Workshop 2025: Polarisation textures of light and atomic gasses

Session Information

Location: Lecture room Schay
Day: Friday, 16 May
Time: 11:00 - 11:30
Chairperson: Gediminas Juzeliunas

Presentation Details

Presentation Type: Oral presentation
Title: Polarisation textures of light and atomic gasses
Abstract: Polarisation - while invisible to the eye - has been recognized as an important feature of light since the days of Ptolemy. Over the last decades we have gained unprecedented control over light, allowing us to generate polarisation structures in 2D and 3D, explore its topologies and its interaction with matter. In this talk I will present how we generate and analyse arbitrary polarization textures and introduce you to some of its curious properties, including new insights into knife-edge diffraction, and optical skyrmions. I will explain how we can transfer optical polarisation textures to polariton structures in atomic gasses. Unlike optical polarizations, atomic spin alignments react to external fields and forces, promising applications in magnetometry and inertial sensing - and vice versa allowing us insights into optical properties that can not be detected directly with photodiodes or cameras.

Presenter

Prof Sonja Franke-Arnold
University of Glasgow | United Kingdom

Authors

1. Franke-Arnold, Sonja | School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Glasgow, UK
2. Svensson, Sphinx | School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Glasgow, UK
3. Samanta, Kuntal | School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Glasgow, UK
4. Maduro, Richard | School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Glasgow, UK
5. Westerberg, Niclas | School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ Glasgow, UK