Generation of spatiotemporal optical coil with controllable transverse intensity chirality
Abstract
Chirality is a fundamental asymmetry in nature. In optics, control of chirality is evolving from spatial properties like polarization to the temporal chirality of local fields. Conventional approaches, however, encode chirality in abstract degrees of freedom such as phase or polarization, limiting direct and efficient coupling with matter on ultrafast timescales. We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a paradigm of intensity-driven optical chirality, where handedness is physically inscribed into the trajectory of spatiotemporal energy flow. Through the engineered non-collinear collision of Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices, the spatiotemporal optical coil is generated. The coil’s chirality manifests as a physical torsion of its volumetric energy flow, a property distinct from chirality hidden in phase or polarization. By employing femtosecond tomography and phase-resolved reconstruction, we map the complete three-dimensional spatiotemporal intensity field, directly observing the evolution of singularity lines. This approach reveals programmable scaling relations between the coil’s topology and interaction geometry, extending the concept of chirality to the energy-flow level. The introduced volumetric chiral density directly correlates with the optical forces and torques exerted on chiral particles, providing an intensity-manifested degree of freedom for topological photonics and enabling novel schemes for ultrafast chiral-selective excitation and high-dimensional information encoding.
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BibTeX
@article{jiashaner2026generation,
title = {{Generation of spatiotemporal optical coil with controllable transverse intensity chirality}},
author = {Dana Jiashaner and Xingyuan Zhang and Huiming Wang and Zhirong Tao and Qian Cao and Dawei Liu and Daijun Luo and Lu Yang and Kaili Geng and Yonghang Tai and Xinhua Xie and Zhensheng Tao and Md Sabbir Ahsan and Guangyu Fan and Qiwen Zhan},
journal = {Light: Science \& Applications},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1038/s41377-026-02432-0},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-026-02432-0},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Generation of spatiotemporal optical coil with controllable transverse intensity chirality
AU - Dana Jiashaner
AU - Xingyuan Zhang
AU - Huiming Wang
AU - Zhirong Tao
AU - Qian Cao
AU - Dawei Liu
AU - Daijun Luo
AU - Lu Yang
AU - Kaili Geng
AU - Yonghang Tai
AU - Xinhua Xie
AU - Zhensheng Tao
AU - Md Sabbir Ahsan
AU - Guangyu Fan
AU - Qiwen Zhan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/09
JO - Light: Science & Applications
DO - 10.1038/s41377-026-02432-0
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-026-02432-0
AB - Chirality is a fundamental asymmetry in nature. In optics, control of chirality is evolving from spatial properties like polarization to the temporal chirality of local fields. Conventional approaches, however, encode chirality in abstract degrees of freedom such as phase or polarization, limiting direct and efficient coupling with matter on ultrafast timescales. We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a paradigm of intensity-driven optical chirality, where handedness is physically inscribed into the trajectory of spatiotemporal energy flow. Through the engineered non-collinear collision of Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices, the spatiotemporal optical coil is generated. The coil’s chirality manifests as a physical torsion of its volumetric energy flow, a property distinct from chirality hidden in phase or polarization. By employing femtosecond tomography and phase-resolved reconstruction, we map the complete three-dimensional spatiotemporal intensity field, directly observing the evolution of singularity lines. This approach reveals programmable scaling relations between the coil’s topology and interaction geometry, extending the concept of chirality to the energy-flow level. The introduced volumetric chiral density directly correlates with the optical forces and torques exerted on chiral particles, providing an intensity-manifested degree of freedom for topological photonics and enabling novel schemes for ultrafast chiral-selective excitation and high-dimensional information encoding.
SN - 2047-7538
ER -