Topological Phase Transitions in the Photonic Spin Hall Effect.

The recent synthesis of two-dimensional staggered materials opens up burgeoning opportunities to study optical spin-orbit interactions in semiconducting Dirac-like systems. We unveil topological phase transitions in the photonic spin Hall effect in the graphene family materials. It is shown that an external static electric field and a high frequency circularly polarized laser allow for active on-demand manipulation of electromagnetic beam shifts. The spin Hall effect of light presents a rich dependence with radiation degrees of freedom, and material properties, and features nontrivial topological properties. We discover that photonic Hall shifts are sensitive to spin and valley properties of the charge carriers, providing an unprecedented pathway to investigate spintronics and valleytronics in staggered 2D semiconductors.