Spin-orbit interactions (SOIs) of light are manifestations of coupling between components of light's angular momentum. They are at play in most basic optical processes, offering opportunities both to understand their fundamental origin and to control light in novel ways. Because SOIs become significant at subwavelength scale, they have largely been explored in the context of inhomogeneous materials exhibiting wavelength-scale structures and notably metamaterials. Here we demonstrate that spin-orbit interactions can in fact analogously emerge in moving matter through the well-known light-dragging effects. SOIs in moving media are shown to manifest through a Berry phase induced by vorticity, which then leads to a rotation of the wave's polarization. In bringing together electrodynamics of moving media and SOIs of light, our work not only paves the way for the discovery of fundamental effects but also uncovers alternative means to harness SOIs to control light.

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• Angular momentum of light
• Geometric & topological phases
• Geometrical & wave optics
• Light propagation, transmission & absorption
• Mechanical effects of light on material media
• Polarization of light
• Spin Hall effect
• Spin-orbit coupling
• Topological effects in photonic systems
• Polarization
• Maxwell's equations
• Phase space methods
• Plane-wave expansion
• Semiclassical methods