Toroidal optical transitions in hydrogen-like atoms

Nondiffracting supertoroidal pulses and optical "Kármán vortex streets"

Supertoroidal light pulses, as space-time nonseparable electromagnetic waves, exhibit unique topological properties including skyrmionic configurations, fractal-like singularities, and energy backflow in free space, which however do not survive upon propagation. Here, we introduce the non-diffracting supertoroidal pulses (NDSTPs) with propagation-robust skyrmionic and vortex field configurations that persists over arbitrary propagation distances. Intriguingly, the field structure of NDSTPs has a similarity with the von Kármán vortex street, a pattern of swirling vortices in fluid and gas dynamics with staggered singularities that can stably propagate forward. NDSTPs will be of interest as directed channels for information and energy transfer applications.

Quantum control of flying doughnut terahertz pulses

The ability to manipulate the multiple properties of light diversifies light-matter interaction and light-driven applications. Here, using quantum control, we introduce an approach that enables the amplitude, sign, and even configuration of the generated light fields to be manipulated in an all-optical manner. Following this approach, we demonstrate the generation of "flying doughnut" terahertz (THz) pulses. We show that the single-cycle THz pulse radiated from the dynamic ring current has an electric field structure that is azimuthally polarized and that the space- and time-resolved magnetic field has a strong, isolated longitudinal component. We apply the flying doughnut pulse for a spectroscopic measurement of the water vapor in ambient air. Pulses such as these will serve as unique probes for spectroscopy, imaging, telecommunications, and magnetic materials.

The Rise of Toroidal Electrodynamics and Spectroscopy

Toroidal electrodynamics is now massively influencing research in toroidal (Marinov et al. New J. Phys. 2007, 9, 234; Basharin et al. Phys. Rev. X 2015, 5, 011036; Jeong et al. ACS Photonics 2020, 7, 1699) and anapole metamaterials (Basharin et al. Phys. Rev. B 2017, 95, 035104; Wu et al. ACS Nano 2018, 12, 1920), optical properties of nanoparticles (Miroshnichenko et al. Nature Commun. 2015, 6, 8069; Gurvitz et al. Laser Photonics Rev. 2019, 13, 1800266), plasmonics (Ogut et al. Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 5239; Yezekyan et al. Nano Lett. 2022, 22, 6098), sensors (Gupta et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2017, 110, 121108; Ahmadivand et al. Mater. Today 2020, 32, 108; Wang et al. Nanophotonics 2021, 10, 1295; Yao et al. Photonix 2022, 3, 23), and lasers (Huang et al. Sci. Rep. 2013, 3, 1237; Hwang et al. Nanophotonics 2021, 10, 3599), while a recent publication on toroidal optical transitions in hydrogen-like atoms (Kuprov et al. Sci. Adv. 2022, 8, eabq7651) promises to launch a new chapter in spectroscopy. In this Viewpoint, we review these progresses.