The super-chirality of vector twisted light

Vector vortex light of topological order m arises as a superposition of two twisted modes with phase functions e±imϕ (with ϕ the azimuthal variable) and circular polarizations (σ=∓1). We demonstrate that when m is sufficiently large these modes exhibit enhanced helicity densities when compared with the equivalent circularly-polarized Gaussian modes. The enhancement stems from the presence of longitudinal field components which become significant even for moderate beam widths. The super-chirality of light–matter interactions enabled by such modes suggests a high degree of enantioselectivity, surpassing conventional techniques for the chiral selection, so promising useful applications.