Optical Spin-to-Orbital Angular Momentum Conversion in Inhomogeneous Anisotropic Media
Top Cited Papers
- 28 April 2006
- journal article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 96 (16), 163905
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.96.163905
Abstract
We demonstrate experimentally an optical process in which the spin angular momentum carried by a circularly polarized light beam is converted into orbital angular momentum, leading to the generation of helical modes with a wave-front helicity controlled by the input polarization. This phenomenon requires the interaction of light with matter that is both optically inhomogeneous and anisotropic. The underlying physics is also associated with the so-called Pancharatnam-Berry geometrical phases involved in any inhomogeneous transformation of the optical polarization.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Intrinsic and Extrinsic Nature of the Orbital Angular Momentum of a Light BeamPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- IV The Orbital Angular Momentum of LightPublished by Elsevier BV ,1999
- Optical alignment and spinning of laser-trapped microscopic particlesNature, 1998
- Mechanical equivalence of spin and orbital angular momentum of light: an optical spannerOptics Letters, 1997
- Direct Observation of Transfer of Angular Momentum to Absorptive Particles from a Laser Beam with a Phase SingularityPhysical Review Letters, 1995
- Orbital angular momentum of light and the transformation of Laguerre-Gaussian laser modesPhysical Review A, 1992
- Photodynamical Effects Induced by the Angular Momentum of Light in Liquid CrystalsPhysica Scripta, 1991
- Dislocations in wave trainsProceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1974
- Sur le moment d'impulsion d'une onde électromagnétiquePhysica, 1943
- Mechanical Detection and Measurement of the Angular Momentum of LightPhysical Review B, 1936