  Material anisotropy and chirality produce polarization-dependent light-matter
interactions. Absorption leads to linear and circular dichroism, whereas
elastic forward scattering produces linear and circular birefringence. Here we
highlight a form of dichroism and birefringence whereby ordered generic media
display locally different absorption and scattering of a focused vortex beam
that depends upon the sign of the topological charge $\ell$. The light-matter
interactions described in this work manifest purely through dominant
electric-dipole coupling mechanisms and depend on the paraxial parameter to
first-order. Previous topological-charge-dependent light-matter interactions
required the significantly weaker higher-order multipole moments and are
proportional to the paraxial parameter to second-order. The result represents a
method of probing the nano-optics of advanced materials and the topological
properties of structured light.
