Spintwistronics: Photonic bilayer topological lattices tuning extreme spin-orbit interactions

Abstract Twistronics, the manipulation of Moiré superlattices via the twisting of two layers of two-dimensional (2D) materials to control diverse and nontrivial properties, has recently revolutionized the condensed matter and materials physics1-6. Here, we introduce the principles of twistronics to spin photonics, coining this emerging field spintwistronics. In spintwistronics, instead of 2D materials, the two layers consist of photonic topological spin lattices on a surface plasmonic polariton (SPP) platform. Each 2D SPP wave supports the construction of topological lattices formed by photonic spins with stable skyrmion topology governed by rotational symmetry. By introducing spintwistronics into plasmonics, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that two layers of photonic spin lattices can produce Moiré spin superlattices at specific magic angles. These superlattices, modulated periodically by the quantum number of total angular momentum, exhibit novel properties-including new spin quasiparticle topologies, multiple fractal patterns, extremely slow-light control, and more-that cannot be achieved in conventional plasmonic systems. As a result, they open up multiple degrees of freedom for practical applications in quantum information, optical data storage and chiral light-matter interactions.