TY - JOUR
T1 - Optical framed knots as information carriers
AU - Larocque, Hugo
AU - D’Errico, Alessio
AU - Ferrer-Garcia, Manuel F.
AU - Carmi, Avishy
AU - Cohen, Eliahu
AU - Karimi, Ebrahim
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Ontario’s Early Research Award (ERA), Canada Research Chairs (CRC), and Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) Program. H.L. acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Modern beam shaping techniques have enabled the generation of optical fields displaying a wealth of structural features, which include three-dimensional topologies such as Möbius, ribbon strips and knots. However, unlike simpler types of structured light, the topological properties of these optical fields have hitherto remained more of a fundamental curiosity as opposed to a feature that can be applied in modern technologies. Due to their robustness against external perturbations, topological invariants in physical systems are increasingly being considered as a means to encode information. Hence, structured light with topological properties could potentially be used for such purposes. Here, we introduce the experimental realization of structures known as framed knots within optical polarization fields. We further develop a protocol in which the topological properties of framed knots are used in conjunction with prime factorization to encode information.
AB - Modern beam shaping techniques have enabled the generation of optical fields displaying a wealth of structural features, which include three-dimensional topologies such as Möbius, ribbon strips and knots. However, unlike simpler types of structured light, the topological properties of these optical fields have hitherto remained more of a fundamental curiosity as opposed to a feature that can be applied in modern technologies. Due to their robustness against external perturbations, topological invariants in physical systems are increasingly being considered as a means to encode information. Hence, structured light with topological properties could potentially be used for such purposes. Here, we introduce the experimental realization of structures known as framed knots within optical polarization fields. We further develop a protocol in which the topological properties of framed knots are used in conjunction with prime factorization to encode information.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092303319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-18792-z
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-18792-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 33037210
AN - SCOPUS:85092303319
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 11
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 5119
ER -