Generation of Spatiotemporal Optical Coil with Controllable Transverse Intensity Chirality

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Abstract

Abstract Chirality is a fundamental asymmetry in nature. In optics, control of chirality is evolving from spatial properties like polarization to the temporal chirality of local fields. Conventional approaches, however, encode chirality in abstract degrees of freedom such as phase or polarization, limiting direct and efficient coupling with matter on ultrafast timescales. We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a paradigm of intensity-driven optical chirality, where handedness is physically inscribed into the trajectory of spatiotemporal energy flow. Through the engineered non-collinear collision of Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices, the Spatiotemporal Optical Coil is generated. The coil’s chirality manifests as a physical torsion of its volumetric energy flow, a property fundamentally independent of phase and polarization. By employing femtosecond tomography and phase-resolved reconstruction, we map the complete three-dimensional spatiotemporal intensity field, directly observing the evolution of singularity lines. This approach reveals programmable scaling relations between the coil’s topology and interaction geometry, extending the concept of chirality to the energy-flow level. The introduced volumetric chiral density directly correlates with the optical forces and torques exerted on chiral particles, establishing a new, intensity-driven degree of freedom for topological photonics and enabling novel schemes for ultrafast chiral-selective excitation and high-dimensional information encoding.
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Generation of Spatiotemporal Optical Coil with Controllable Transverse Intensity Chirality | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Generation of Spatiotemporal Optical Coil with Controllable Transverse Intensity Chirality Guangyu Fan, Dana Jiashaner, Xingyuan Zhang, Hui-Ming Wang, Zhirong Tao, and 10 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7914994/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Chirality is a fundamental asymmetry in nature. In optics, control of chirality is evolving from spatial properties like polarization to the temporal chirality of local fields. Conventional approaches, however, encode chirality in abstract degrees of freedom such as phase or polarization, limiting direct and efficient coupling with matter on ultrafast timescales. We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a paradigm of intensity-driven optical chirality, where handedness is physically inscribed into the trajectory of spatiotemporal energy flow. Through the engineered non-collinear collision of Spatiotemporal Optical Vortices, the Spatiotemporal Optical Coil is generated. The coil’s chirality manifests as a physical torsion of its volumetric energy flow, a property fundamentally independent of phase and polarization. By employing femtosecond tomography and phase-resolved reconstruction, we map the complete three-dimensional spatiotemporal intensity field, directly observing the evolution of singularity lines. This approach reveals programmable scaling relations between the coil’s topology and interaction geometry, extending the concept of chirality to the energy-flow level. The introduced volumetric chiral density directly correlates with the optical forces and torques exerted on chiral particles, establishing a new, intensity-driven degree of freedom for topological photonics and enabling novel schemes for ultrafast chiral-selective excitation and high-dimensional information encoding. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical physics/Ultrafast photonics Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical physics/Nonlinear optics Full Text Additional Declarations There is no conflict of interest Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.pdf Supplementary Information: Generation of Spatiotemporal Optical Coil with Controllable Transverse Intensity Chirality Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: revise 29 Dec, 2025 Review # 2 received at journal 28 Dec, 2025 Review # 1 received at journal 17 Dec, 2025 Review # 3 received at journal 08 Dec, 2025 Reviewer # 3 agreed at journal 27 Nov, 2025 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 24 Nov, 2025 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 24 Nov, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Nov, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 10 Nov, 2025 First submitted to journal 29 Oct, 2025 Unknown event 27 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 21 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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