Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
201,818 studies31 sourcesUpdated 21 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Communications

Redefining topological robustness in optical polarization fields through a generalized skyrmion number

  • An Aloysius Wang1
  • Yifei Ma2
  • Zimo Zhao2
  • Yuxi Cai2
  • Stephen Morris2
  • Honghui He3
  • Zhenwei Xie4
  • Peng Shi4
  • Yijie Shen5
  • Anatoly V. Zayats6
  • Xiaocong Yuan4
  • Chao He7
7 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. [email protected]
  2. 2Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  3. 3Guangdong Research Center of Polarization Imaging and Measurement Engineering Technology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China
  4. 4Nanophotonics Research Center, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Micro-Scale Optical Information Technology & Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
  5. 5Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
  6. 6Department of Physics and London Centre for Nanotechnology, King's College London, London, UK
  7. 7Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. [email protected]
Open at sourceDOICite

Abstract

Skyrmions are important topologically non-trivial fields characteristic of models spanning scales from the microscopic to the cosmological. However, the skyrmion number can only be defined for fields with specific boundary conditions, limiting its use in broader contexts. Here, we address this issue through a generalized notion of the skyrmion derived from the de Rham cohomology of compactly supported forms. This allows for the definition of an entirely new coprod i=1∞ ℤi ∐ i = 1 ∞ Z i -valued topological number that assigns a tuple of integers (a1,…,ak)∈ ℤk ( a 1 , … , a k ) ∈ Z k to a field instead of a single number, with no restrictions to its boundary. To demonstrate the power of our new formalism, we focus on the propagation of optical polarization fields and show, both theoretically and experimentally, that our newly defined generalized skyrmion number significantly increases the dimension of data that can be stored within the field while also demonstrating strong robustness. This novel topological number supports the idea that optical skyrmions are topologically protected states when interpreted in this more general context, and addresses some of the core issues in the application of optical skyrmions to communications and computing.

Related

  1. Robustness of Skyrmion-Mediated Magnetization Switching in Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (p-MTJs) to Material Disorder and Elevated Temperature
    Prosenjit Das, Md Mahadi Rajib, Jayasimha Atulasimha
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv
  2. Laser-induced metastable (anti-)skyrmion states with higher-order topological charge
    Tim Titze, Marcel Möller, Timo Schmidt +6
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv
  3. Enhancement of the Topological Hall Effect through Engineering the Skyrmion Size and Shape
    Kazuma Murata, Ryunosuke Terasawa, Hiroaki Ishizuka
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv
  4. Nonlinear Interaction and Topological Selection Rules in two Skyrmion Merging: Emergence of Skyrmionium Textures
    M. Al Busaidi, T. Hakioglu, R. Sbiaa
    arXivPreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCondensed matterarXiv
  5. Quasi-Bessel Stokes skyrmions with enhanced topological robustness in free-space and turbulent propagation
    Fan Yang, Jiming Wang, Tong Wu +3
    Optics ExpressPeer-reviewedPublisher termsOptics & photonicsCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{wang2026redefining,
  title = {{Redefining topological robustness in optical polarization fields through a generalized skyrmion number}},
  author = {An Aloysius Wang and Yifei Ma and Zimo Zhao and Yuxi Cai and Stephen Morris and Honghui He and Zhenwei Xie and Peng Shi and Yijie Shen and Anatoly V. Zayats and Xiaocong Yuan and Chao He},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-75120-7},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75120-7},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Redefining topological robustness in optical polarization fields through a generalized skyrmion number
AU  - An Aloysius Wang
AU  - Yifei Ma
AU  - Zimo Zhao
AU  - Yuxi Cai
AU  - Stephen Morris
AU  - Honghui He
AU  - Zhenwei Xie
AU  - Peng Shi
AU  - Yijie Shen
AU  - Anatoly V. Zayats
AU  - Xiaocong Yuan
AU  - Chao He
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/10
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-75120-7
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75120-7
AB  - Skyrmions are important topologically non-trivial fields characteristic of models spanning scales from the microscopic to the cosmological. However, the skyrmion number can only be defined for fields with specific boundary conditions, limiting its use in broader contexts. Here, we address this issue through a generalized notion of the skyrmion derived from the de Rham cohomology of compactly supported forms. This allows for the definition of an entirely new coprod _i=1^∞ ℤ^i ∐ i = 1 ∞ Z i -valued topological number that assigns a tuple of integers (a_1,…,a_k)∈ ℤ^k ( a 1 , … , a k ) ∈ Z k to a field instead of a single number, with no restrictions to its boundary. To demonstrate the power of our new formalism, we focus on the propagation of optical polarization fields and show, both theoretically and experimentally, that our newly defined generalized skyrmion number significantly increases the dimension of data that can be stored within the field while also demonstrating strong robustness. This novel topological number supports the idea that optical skyrmions are topologically protected states when interpreted in this more general context, and addresses some of the core issues in the application of optical skyrmions to communications and computing.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -