Defects encode high-dimensional topological information
Abstract
In polarization fields, Stokes skyrmions are continuous vectorial textures that encode integer-valued topological invariants across real space, enabling robust optical information encoding under complex perturbations. This topological resilience, however, fails when singular points occur where the Stokes vector has no unique limiting value, placing a fundamental constraint on skyrmion-based information manipulation. Here, we show, paradoxically, that the very defects that destroy conventional resilience can become the carriers of topological information. We introduce the resulting structures as Stokes defect skyrmions, in which singular Stokes responses constitute measurable topological degrees of freedom with theoretically minimal size. We design and realize one class of them using all-dielectric metasurfaces that combine arbitrarily controlled distinguished fast-axis singularities with customized retardance profiles. The resulting fields are then described by high-dimensional integer-valued topological tuples, providing theoretically unbounded information capacity at the nanoscale. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, selected tuple components are mapped to represent predefined alphabetic symbols, realizing controlled high-dimensional information representation within a single optical field. Our results establish Stokes defects as functional units for higher-dimensional topological encoding, expanding the role of defects from failure points to engineerable carriers of optical information.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026defects,
title = {{Defects encode high-dimensional topological information}},
author = {Yunqi Zhang and Fengjun Li and Runchen Zhang and Zi-Lan Deng and Liangyu Deng and Zhikai Zhou and Ruofu Liu and Zimo Zhao and Yifei Ma and Yuanzhe Xu and Zixuan Wang and Yixuan Zhao and Jize Yan and Honghui He and Xiangping Li and Chao He},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.28902},
eprint = {2608.28902},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28902},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Defects encode high-dimensional topological information
AU - Yunqi Zhang
AU - Fengjun Li
AU - Runchen Zhang
AU - Zi-Lan Deng
AU - Liangyu Deng
AU - Zhikai Zhou
AU - Ruofu Liu
AU - Zimo Zhao
AU - Yifei Ma
AU - Yuanzhe Xu
AU - Zixuan Wang
AU - Yixuan Zhao
AU - Jize Yan
AU - Honghui He
AU - Xiangping Li
AU - Chao He
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/28
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.28902
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28902
AB - In polarization fields, Stokes skyrmions are continuous vectorial textures that encode integer-valued topological invariants across real space, enabling robust optical information encoding under complex perturbations. This topological resilience, however, fails when singular points occur where the Stokes vector has no unique limiting value, placing a fundamental constraint on skyrmion-based information manipulation. Here, we show, paradoxically, that the very defects that destroy conventional resilience can become the carriers of topological information. We introduce the resulting structures as Stokes defect skyrmions, in which singular Stokes responses constitute measurable topological degrees of freedom with theoretically minimal size. We design and realize one class of them using all-dielectric metasurfaces that combine arbitrarily controlled distinguished fast-axis singularities with customized retardance profiles. The resulting fields are then described by high-dimensional integer-valued topological tuples, providing theoretically unbounded information capacity at the nanoscale. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, selected tuple components are mapped to represent predefined alphabetic symbols, realizing controlled high-dimensional information representation within a single optical field. Our results establish Stokes defects as functional units for higher-dimensional topological encoding, expanding the role of defects from failure points to engineerable carriers of optical information.
ER -