Chen Jian, Forbes Andrew, Qiu Cheng-Wei
School of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117583, Singapore.
Light Sci Appl. 2025 Jan 3;14(1):28. doi: 10.1038/s41377-024-01708-7.
Topology is usually perceived intrinsically immutable for a given object. We argue that optical topologies do not immediately enjoy such benefits. Using 'optical skyrmions' as an example, we show that they will exhibit varying textures and topological invariants (skyrmion numbers), depending on how to construct the skyrmion vector when projecting from real to parameter space. We demonstrate the fragility of optical skyrmions under a ubiquitous scenario--simple reflection off an optical mirror. Optical topology is not without benefit, but it must not be assumed.
对于给定的物体，拓扑结构通常被认为本质上是不可变的。我们认为光学拓扑结构并不能立即享有这样的特性。以“光学斯格明子”为例，我们表明，当从实空间投影到参数空间时，根据如何构建斯格明子矢量，它们会呈现出不同的纹理和拓扑不变量（斯格明子数）。我们展示了在一个普遍存在的场景下光学斯格明子的脆弱性——光从光学镜面上的简单反射。光学拓扑并非没有益处，但绝不能想当然。
