Optical orbital angular momentum from the curl of polarization

Wang, Xiaohao; Chen, Jing; Li, Yongnan; Ding, Jianping; Guo, Chen; Wang, Hui-Tian

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.253602

Cited by 238 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…32, 33 We present a convenient method for generating the vector fields, based on the Poincaré sphere and the wavefront reconstruction. 2,25,34 In order to characterize the SOP of a polarized optical field, three independent parameters are needed, for example, (i) amplitudes of two orthogonally polarized components and phase difference between them or (ii) major and minor axes and the angle which specifies the orientation of polarization ellipse. Nevertheless, the Stokes parameters normalized by the light intensity are more convenient.…”

Section: Generation Of Vector Optical Fieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vector fields have many important applications such as particle acceleration, 20 single molecule imaging, 21 near-field optics, 22 nonlinear optics, 23 and optical trapping and manipulation of particles. 24,25 In Section 2, we introduce the method for generating the vector fields in detail. Section 3 focuses on the novel effects of the vector fields.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chapter 2: Vector Optical Fields and Their Novel Effects

Wang¹

2013

Vectorial Optical Fields

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In this chapter, the concept of vector optical fields is briefly introduced at first. Then we secondly introduce our method for generating vector optical fields based on the Poincaré sphere and wavefront reconstruction is presented. Novel effects arising from these vector optical fields, including the optical cage, the splitting caused by the axial-symmetry breaking, the Young's two-slit interference, and the optical orbital angular momentum will be reported followed by a brief summary of our findings.

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Section: Generation Of Vector Optical Fieldsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 2: Vector Optical Fields and Their Novel Effects

Wang¹

2013

Vectorial Optical Fields

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“…In particular, under the nonparaxial condition, a focused circularly polarized field could drive the orbital motion of the particles owing to the SAM-to-OAM conversion caused by the induced additional helical phase of the longitudinal field component [22][23][24]. A new class of photon OAM associated with the curl of polarization independent of phase has been predicted and demonstrated, which differs from the well-known OAM associated with the phase gradient independent of polarization in that this novel OAM can be carried by a radial-variant vector field with hybrid polarization states [25]. Although a quantum particle is not allowed to move along a definite path due to its nonlocalization, the APTs related to large-scale properties in the quantum system exhibit signatures of underlying the classical dynamics [26].…”

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confidence: 99%

Trajectory-based unveiling of the angular momentum of photons

Ren

Kong

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. A

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The Heisenberg uncertainty principle suggests that it is impossible to determine the trajectory of a quantum particle in the same way as a classical particle. However, we may still yield insight into novel behavior of photons based on the average photon trajectories (APTs). Here we explore the APTs of optical fields carrying spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) under the paraxial condition. We define the helicity and differential helicity for unveiling the three-dimensional spiral structures of the APTs of optical fields carrying the SAM and/or the OAM. We clarify the novel behaviors of the APTs caused by the SAM and OAM as well as the SAM-OAM coupling. The APT concept is also very helpful for profoundly understanding the trapped particle motion and has the potential to elucidate other physical systems.PACS numbers: 42.50. Tx, 42.25.Ja, 87.80.Cc Heisenberg's statement that "The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa" [1], conveys the fact that there is a limit to the precision to which the position and momentum of a quantum particle can be known simultaneously; that is, the trajectory of a single quantum particle cannot be as precise as that of a classical particle. As the motion of a classical particle is governed by Newtonian mechanics, knowledge of the position and momentum allows the past, present, and future states of the particle to also be known. Although the trajectory of an individual quantum particle is difficult to define because any measurement of the position (momentum) irrevocably perturbs the momentum (position), we may still gain some information without appreciably perturbing the future evolution of the quantum system through a weak measurement and determine a precise mean value for the observable of interest by averaging over many weak measurements [2]. For instance, the average trajectories of single photons has been investigated in a double-slit interferometer [3].Besides the linear momentum, photons can carry the angular momentum (AM), which is classified into spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) [4][5][6]: the SAM is always associated with the polarization (SAM of + , − and 0 per photon for the right-circularly, left-circularly and linearly polarized light, respectively and is the reduced Planck constant) [4][5][6], while the OAM is associated with a helical or twisted wavefront of exp(imφ) (OAM of m per photon, where m is the topological charge) [4][5][6][7][8][9]. The photon AM has attracted considerable interest in various realms, in optical manipulation [10][11][12], optical communication [13][14][15], and quantum optics [16][17][18][19].In optical tweezers experiments, the photon AM can be observed through the rotation of the trapped microscopic particles. The SAM causes a trapped particle to rotate about its own axis [20], while the OAM induces an orbital motion of the trapped particles [21]. In particular, under the nonparaxial condition, a focused circu...

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“…The vector optical fields have been studied intensively. For instance, focusing a radially polarized beam can lead to the smallest possible spot size [4,5], and the angular optical momentum from the vector optical field has been demonstrated [6]. Evanescent waves, also known as inhomogeneous waves [7], have a long history and have been the subject of many studies and appear in many branches of physics [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evanescent wavefield part of a cylindrical vector beam

Chen¹,

Li²

2013

Opt. Express

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Abstract:The evanescent wave of the cylindrical vector field is analyzed using the vector angular spectrum of the electromagnetic beam. Comparison between the contributions of the TE and TM terms of both the propagating and the evanescent waves associated with the cylindrical vector field in free space is demonstrated. The physical pictures of the evanescent wave and the propagating wave are well illustrated from the vectorial structure, which provides a new approach to manipulating laser beams by choosing the states of polarization in the cross-section of the field.

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Optical orbital angular momentum from the curl of polarization

Cited by 238 publications

References 47 publications

Chapter 2: Vector Optical Fields and Their Novel Effects

Chapter 2: Vector Optical Fields and Their Novel Effects

Trajectory-based unveiling of the angular momentum of photons

The evanescent wavefield part of a cylindrical vector beam

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