Electrically controlled transfer of spin angular momentum of light in an optically active medium.

Spin is an intrinsic property of the photon. A method for using an externally applied dc electric field to manipulate the transfer of spin angular momentum of light in an optically active medium is presented. To discuss this, we first develop a wave coupling theory of the mutual action of natural optical activity and the linear electro-optic effect. Besides being used for analyzing the electrically controlled transfer of spin angular momentum of light, the theory can also be used to describe the propagation of light traveling along an arbitrary direction in any optically active medium with an external dc electric field along an arbitrary direction.