We demonstrate that electric-dipole scatterers can mimic chiral light-matter
interaction by generating far-field circular polarization upon scattering, even
though the optical chirality of the incident field as well as that of the
scattered light is zero. The presented effect originates from the fact that
electric-dipole scatterers respond selectively only to the incident electric
field, which eventually results in depolarization of the transmitted beam and
in generation of far-field circular polarization. To experimentally demonstrate
this effect we utilize a cylindrical vector beam with spiral polarization and a
spherical gold nanoparticle positioned on the optical axis -- the axis of
rotational symmetry of the system. Our experiment and a simple theoretical
model address the fundamentals of duality symmetry in optics and chiral
light-matter interactions, accentuating their richness and ubiquity yet in
highly symmetric configurations.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure