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    Experimental observation of Berry phases in optical Möbius-strip microcavities
    (London [u.a.] : Nature Publ. Group, 2022) Wang, Jiawei; Valligatla, Sreeramulu; Yin, Yin; Schwarz, Lukas; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Baunack, Stefan; Lee, Ching Hua; Thomale, Ronny; Li, Shilong; Fomin, Vladimir M.; Ma, Libo; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    The Möbius strip, a fascinating loop structure with one-sided topology, provides a rich playground for manipulating the non-trivial topological behaviour of spinning particles, such as electrons, polaritons and photons, in both real and parameter spaces. For photons resonating in a Möbius-strip cavity, the occurrence of an extra phase—known as the Berry phase—with purely topological origin is expected due to its non-trivial evolution in parameter space. However, despite numerous theoretical investigations, characterizing the optical Berry phase in a Möbius-strip cavity has remained elusive. Here we report the experimental observation of the Berry phase generated in optical Möbius-strip microcavities. In contrast to theoretical predictions in optical, electronic and magnetic Möbius-topology systems where only Berry phase π occurs, we demonstrate that a variable Berry phase smaller than π can be acquired by generating elliptical polarization of resonating light. Möbius-strip microcavities as integrable and Berry-phase-programmable optical systems are of great interest in topological physics and emerging classical or quantum photonic applications.
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    Switching Propulsion Mechanisms of Tubular Catalytic Micromotors
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Wrede, Paul; Medina-Sánchez, Mariana; Fomin, Vladimir M.; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    Different propulsion mechanisms have been suggested for describing the motion of a variety of chemical micromotors, which have attracted great attention in the last decades due to their high efficiency and thrust force, enabling several applications in the fields of environmental remediation and biomedicine. Bubble-recoil based motion, in particular, has been modeled by three different phenomena: capillary forces, bubble growth, and bubble expulsion. However, these models have been suggested independently based on a single influencing factor (i.e., viscosity), limiting the understanding of the overall micromotor performance. Therefore, the combined effect of medium viscosity, surface tension, and fuel concentration is analyzed on the micromotor swimming ability, and the dominant propulsion mechanisms that describe its motion more accurately are identified. Using statistically relevant experimental data, a holistic theoretical model is proposed for bubble-propelled tubular catalytic micromotors that includes all three above-mentioned phenomena and provides deeper insights into their propulsion physics toward optimized geometries and experimental conditions.