Rewritable nonvolatile polar optical memory driven by the photon spin in chiral liquid crystals

摘要: We experimentally report on nonvolatile and rewritable binary optical memory where the photon spin state controls the polarity of optically recorded localized orientational distortions in liquid crystals, which behave as elastic quasiparticles having long-term storage capabilities. The memory effect is made possible by the chiral nature of the liquid crystal mesophase, while the supramolecular polarity of the recorded ‘spinbits’ results from the chiral light-matter interaction involving spin-angular momentum transfer from light to matter.