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arXiv · 2607.18822

Wave chirality reversal without passing achirality

M. V. Berry·K. Y. Bliokh·J. M. Robbins
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Abstract

Chiral connectedness describes chiral structures that transform smoothly into their mirror images while never being achiral. The phenomenon is illustrated with a two-parameter family of complex vector fields E representing paraxial optical Gaussian beams. E is chiral everywhere in the parameter plane except the origin. During a circuit of the origin, E reverses chirality twice without being achiral. Different aspects of chirality are associated with the vector and scalar nature of E; natural measures of each, and their combinations, change sign at parameter values where E is chiral. The analysis is simpler for planar fields E, but their chiralities are essentially the same when the subtleties of three dimensions are included.

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M. V. Berry, K. Y. Bliokh, J. M. Robbins. 2026-07-21. Wave chirality reversal without passing achirality. https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121%2Fae9e70

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