  The control and active manipulation of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in photonic
systems is fundamental in the development of modern spin optics and topological
photonic devices. Here, we demonstrate the control of an artificial
Rashba-Dresselhaus (RD) SOC mediated by photochemical reactions in a
microcavity filled with an organic single-crystal of photochromic phase-change
character. Splitting of the circular polarization components of the optical
modes induced by photonic RD SOC is observed experimentally in momentum space.
By applying an ultraviolet light beam, we control the spatial molecular
orientation through a photochemical reaction and with that we control the
energies of the photonic modes. This way we realize a reversible conversion of
spin-splitting of the optical modes with different energies, leading to an
optically controlled switching between circularly and linearly polarized
emission from our device. Our strategy of in situ and reversible engineering of
SOC induced by a light field provides a promising approach to actively design
and manipulate synthetic gauge fields towards future on-chip integration in
photonics and topological photonic devices.
