  The transverse electromagnetic waves are major information and energy
carriers. In 1996, Hellwarth and Nouchi theoretically identified a radically
different, non-transverse type of electromagnetic pulses of toroidal topology.
These pulses, which are propagating counterparts of localized toroidal dipole
excitations in matter and exhibit unique electromagnetic wave properties, have
never been observed before. Here, we report the generation and characterization
of such optical and terahertz Toroidal Light Pulses (TLPs), launched from
tailored nanostructured metasurfaces comprising toroidal emitters. This
achievement paves the way for experimental studies of energy and information
transfer with TLPs, their space-time "entanglement", and their light-matter
interactions involving anapoles, localized space-time entangled excitations,
skyrmions, and toroidal qubits that are of growing interest for the fundamental
science of light and applications.
