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    Synthetic Spatiotemporal Plasmonic Vortices on Chip

    Qian Chen1,2,*, Shuoshuo Zhang2,3,*, Guoyu Xian4, Haoqiang Hu1, Xiaohua Wu1, Xiaofei Wu7,8, Jer-Shing Huang7,8, Chen-Bin Huang9, Jin-Hui Zhong10 et al.

    Yuquan Zhang2, Xiaocong Yuan2, Changjun Min2,†, and Yanan Dai1,5,6,‡

    • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
    • †Contact author: cjmin@szu.edu.cn
    • ‡Contact author: daiyn@sustech.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 256903 – Published 26 June, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/db9j-jc1k

    Abstract

    Spatiotemporal vortices are polychromatic modes that intertwine orbital angular momentum in space and time. Here, we introduce a new class of such vortices, “spatiotemporal plasmonic vortices,” carrying nontrivial topological spin textures. They are generated by chronotopic interference of temporally delayed plasmonic eigenvortices, where a π-phase dislocation in the space-frequency domain maps into a 2π spiraling phase in space-time, with the resulting focus-defocus dynamics emulating U(1) gauge transitions. Using interferometric time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy, we directly image their nanometer-attosecond evolution and control vortex number and position. Quantum-path analysis of coherent two-photon photoemission processes reveals the nonlinear plasmonic polarization fields and angular-momentum conservation, establishing spatiotemporal plasmonic vortices as a platform for probing spatiotemporally structured quantum matter.

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