Evaluating and Designing Metasurfaces for Exciting Skyrmions in 2D Materials

In this work, we aim to design metasurfaces to excite and control optical skyrmions on two-dimensional materials. Using the experimental method of thermal lithography, we fabricate 50 nm radius nanodisks in a hexagonal array. When excited with circularly polarized light, the Inverse Faraday Effect creates opposite propagating currents inside each disk. This method has the potential to excite Néel-type optical skyrmions by manipulating the magnetic field. Optical skyrmions have the potential for high-precision positioning, density storage, and optical communication applications.