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Spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in non-Hermitian photonic graphene

Zhaoyang Zhang1,*,†, Pavel Kokhanchik2,*, Zhenzhi Liu1, Yutong Shen1, Fu Liu1, Maochang Liu3, Yanpeng Zhang1, Min Xiao4, Guillaume Malpuech2,‡ et al.

Dmitry Solnyshkov2,5,§

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: zhyzhang@xjtu.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: guillaume.malpuech@uca.fr
  • §Contact author: dmitry.solnyshkov@uca.fr
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033178 – Published 12 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w2qs-lqqt

Abstract

Optical beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have numerous potential applications, but the means used for their generation often lack crucial on-demand control. In this work, we present a mechanism of converting spin angular momentum (SAM) to OAM in a nonstructured beam. The conversion occurs through spin-orbit coupling in a reconfigurable photonic honeycomb lattice with staggering implemented by electromagnetically induced transparency in an atomic vapor cell. The spin-orbit coupling allows to outcouple the OAM signal from a particular band in a given valley determined by the chirality of light or the lattice staggering, providing a nonzero Berry curvature for generating OAM. The dependence of the output OAM on the chirality of the input beam is the first control knob. The staggering works as a second control knob, flipping the sign of OAM for the fixed chirality. The demonstrated conversion between SAM and OAM is important for optical communications. Our results can be extended to other implementations of paraxial photonic graphene.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033178– Published 12 August, 2026
  • Received 26 August 2025
  • Revised 16 December 2025
  • Accepted 15 July 2026
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