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Hall effect of light is a result of symmetry breaking in spin and/or orbital angular momentum (OAM) possessing optical system and is caused by e.g. refractive index gradient/interface between media or focusing of a spatially asymmetrical beam, similar to the electric field breaking the symmetry in spin Hall effect for electrons. The angular momentum (AM) conservation law in the ensuing asymmetric system dictates redistribution of spin and orbital angular momentum, and is manifested in spin-orbit, orbit-orbit, and orbit-spin conversions and reorganization, i.e. spin-orbit and orbit-orbit interaction. This AM restructuring in turn requires shifts of the barycenter of the electric field of light. In the present study we show, both analytically and by numerical simulation, how different electric field components are displaced upon tight focusing of an asymmetric light beam having OAM and spin. The relation between field components shifts and the AM components shifts/redistribution is presented too. Moreover, we experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the spin-orbit Hall effect of light upon tight focusing in free space. This is achieved using azopolymers as a media detecting longitudinal or z component of the electrical field of light. These findings elucidate the Hall effect of light and may broaden the spectrum of its applications.

This paper presents findings from a spaceborne Earth observation experiment utilizing a novel, ultra-compact hyperspectral imaging camera aboard a 3U CubeSat. Leveraging the Offner optical scheme, the camera’s hyperspectrometer captures hyperspectral images of terrestrial regions with a 200 m spatial resolution and 12 nanometer spectral resolution across a 400 to 1000 nanometer wavelength range, covering 150 channels in the visible and near-infrared spectrums. The hyperspectrometer is specifically designed for deployment on a 3U CubeSat nanosatellite platform, featuring a robust all-metal cylindrical body of the hyperspectrometer, and a coaxial arrangement of the optical elements ensures optimal compactness and vibration stability. The performance of the imaging hyperspectrometer was rigorously evaluated through numerical simulations prior to construction. Analysis of hyperspectral data acquired over a year-long orbital operation demonstrates the 3U CubeSat’s ability to produce various vegetation indices, including the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). A comparative study with the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 L2A data shows a strong agreement at critical points, confirming the 3U CubeSat’s suitability for hyperspectral imaging in the visible and near-infrared spectrums. Notably, the ISOI 3U CubeSat can generate unique index images beyond the reach of Sentinel-2 L2A, underscoring its potential for advancing remote sensing applications.

Abstract It is well known that azobenzene-containing polymers (azopolymers) are sensitive to the polarization orientation of the illuminating radiation, with the resulting photoisomerization inducing material transfer at both the meso- and macroscale. As a result, azopolymers are efficient and versatile photonic materials, for example, they are used for the fabrication of linear diffraction gratings, including subwavelength gratings, microlens arrays, and spectral filters. Here we propose to use carbazole-containing azopolymer thin films to directly visualize the longitudinal component of the incident laser beam, a crucial task for the realization of 3D structured light yet remaining experimentally challenging. We demonstrate the approach on both scalar and vectorial states of structured light, including higher-order and hybrid cylindrical vector beams. In addition to detection, our results confirm that carbazole-containing azopolymers are a powerful tool material engineering with the longitudinal component of the electric field, particularly to fabricate microstructures with unusual morphologies that differentiate from the total intensity distribution of the writing laser beam.

The paper considers paraxial Gaussian laser beams with different polarization states and their characteristics, such as the Poynting vector, gradient force, and force density, which are important for evaluating the effects of radiation on matter. An analysis of the considered characteristics of laser radiation from the point of view of the formation of photoinduced microrelief in an azopolymer film is carried out.

The propagation of variously structured vortex beams of wavelength 1530 nm through a random distorting medium was experimentally investigated. An effect of the aerosol barrier on the scintillation index of the beam was analyzed. The possibility of the correlation detection of the presence of a vortex phase under the beam wandering caused by a flow of warm air was experimentally investigated.

We described an experiment on passing Bessel beams through the atmosphere with heat-trolled flows. We showed that at small distances, while passing through the region with a hot air flow, the Bessel beam can be distorted to a complete loss of the structure, but with further propagation over large distances it completely restores its structure. We also described an experiment with the passage of superpositions of vortex beams through the atmosphere with heat flows and aerosols.

Launched in March 2021, the 3U CubeSat nanosatellite was the first ever to use an ultra-lightweight harmonic diffractive lens for Earth remote sensing. We describe the CubeSat platform we used; our 10 mm diameter and 70 mm focal length lens synthesis, design, and manufacturing; a custom 3D-printed camera housing built from a zero-thermal-expansion metal alloy; and the on-Earth image post-processing with a convolutional neural network resulting in images comparable in quality to classical refractive optics used for remote sensing before.

In this paper we synthesized and measured optical characteristics of an azopolymer based on the polymer N-epoxypropylcarbazole and chromophore 4 - (4-nytrophenylazo)-aniline. Regularities in surface microstructure formation under the influence of a Gaussian beam focused on the synthesized polymer film were shown. With the linearly polarized incident laser beam, the anisotropic formation of the surface microstructures was demonstrated. The dependence of the microstructure formation on the incident beam power density was studied. Also, we experimentally investigated the nonlinear optical effects emerging in the azopolymer structure exposed to a high-intensity laser beam. Nonlinear topographic effects arising during the formation of microstructures by means of linearly and elliptically polarized beams were described.

In this study, a configuration of a compact imaging objective based on a reflecting annular harmonic lens was proposed. Light propagation through the proposed optical system was comprehensively modeled using a dedicated special program and the ZEMAX software, with the latter used to derive the point spread function (PSF). Several relationships were used to describe the connection between key parameters of the objective, including its focal length, field of view, and thickness. We demonstrated that it was possible to design a compact imaging objective whose overall length could be one to two orders of magnitude smaller than its focal length. Using direct laser writing, a reflecting annular harmonic lens was fabricated and used in the proposed objective scheme. The performance of the objective was experimentally studied by imaging a light source and a test pattern. The performance of the compact imaging objective based on a reflecting annular harmonic lens was verified in principle. A PSF value of approximately 16 microns was experimentally obtained, for a lens with a diameter of 25 mm with a focal length of 100 mm.

We propose a new layout for the Offner imaging hyperspectrometer that is utilized onboard small space vehicles. The layout is based on a method of adjusting the adaptive temperature-dependent optical scheme by moving just two coaxial optical components located inside the hyperspectrometer. We present the results of modeling for a temperature range of −40 to +45 °C and an optical experiment using a heat and cold chamber for the range of 12 to 40 °C, proving the basic functionality of the proposed layout. Based on simulation results, the new layout is supposed to allow the hyperspectrometer to operate in a temperature range of −40 to +45 °C without its optical characteristics deteriorating, thus making it suitable for work onboard space or stratospheric vehicles.