Optical skyrmions, tiny knots of light known for their robustness against noise, are promising candidates for the next generation of information carriers. However, their real-world application has been stalled by a major limitation: they could only be generated in narrow bands of color. Current technologies, like metasurfaces and microcavities, rely on resonant effects that are highly sensitive to specific wavelengths. This has made it nearly impossible to generate broadband skyrmions on a chip—until now.
In a new paper published in eLight, a team of scientists led by Professors Jingbo Sun and Ji Zhou of Tsinghua University, along with Professor Yijie Shen of Nanyang Technological University, has developed a revolutionary solution. They created an on-chip platform using ferroelectric spherulites—dome-shaped microstructures that form naturally through self-assembly.
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