Rotation of laser beams with zero of the orbital angular momentum

We show that among the multitude of rotating light beams whose complex amplitude can be represented as a linear superposition of the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes with definite numbers there are light beams with zero orbital angular momentum (OAM) and vice versa, multi-mode LG beams that show no rotation and are lacking the radially symmetric intensity distribution can possess the non-zero OAM. Also, we give examples of the rotating light beams with zero OAM, represented as a superposition of the Bessel and new hypergeometric modes. Using an SLM, we generate a rotating Bessel beam with zero OAM for the first time.     

Linear and angular momenta in tightly focused vortex segmented beams of light(Invited Paper)

We investigate the linear momentum density of light,which can be decomposed into spin and orbital parts,in the complex three-dimensional field distributions of tightly focused vortex segmented beams.The chosen angular spectrum exhibits two spatially separated vortices of opposite charge and orthogonal circular polarization to generate phase vortices in a meridional plane of observation.In the vicinity of those vortices,regions of negative orbital linear momentum occur.Besides these phase vortices,the occurrence of transverse orbital angular momentum manifests in a vortex charge-dependent relative shift of the energy density and linear momentum density.     

Light with a twist in its tail

Polarized light is a phenomenon familiar to anyone with a pair of polaroid sunglasses. Optical components that change the nature of the polarization from linear to circular are common in any undergraduate laboratory. Probably only physicists know that circularly polarized light carries with it an angular momentum that results from the spin of individual photons. Few physicists realize, however, that a light beam can also carry orbital angular momentum associated not with photon spin but with helical wavefronts. Beams of this type have been studied only over the last decade. In many instances orbital angular momentum behaves in a similar way to spin. But this is not always so: orbital angular momentum has its own distinctive properties and its own distinctive optical components. This article outlines the general behaviour of such beams; how they can be used to rotate microscopic particles; how they interact with nonlinear materials; the role they play in atom-light interactions and how the rotation of such beams results in a measurable frequency shift.     

柱矢量光束的角动量性质

介绍了非近轴光束的表示理论,利用该表示理论很好地解决了非近轴光束的角动量问题,发现非近轴光束的总角动量可以严格地分解成自旋和轨道两部分,但是两者都依赖于由偏振椭圆度表征的光束的偏振状态。主要研究了柱矢量光束的角动量问题。给出了动量空间和位形空间中的柱矢量光束表达式和角动量算符表达式。通过分析两个空间中的角动量算符及柱矢量光束表达式,发现在这两种空间中,具有螺旋型相位的柱矢量光束是角动量算符沿着传播方向的分量的本征态,其本征值与偏振椭圆度无关,这为计算这类特殊光束的角动量提供了一种新方法。     

相对论涡旋高次谐波的产生与调控理论研究

目前,具有螺旋相位波前和环状光强分布的涡旋光束已在光学领域获得了广泛应用,其产生与调控自然成了研究的热点。利用三维粒子模拟程序对双色拉盖尔高斯激光驱动固体等离子激发同时携带自旋角动量与轨道角动量的高次谐波的物理过程进行了研究,根据高次谐波产生过程中的光子能量与角动量守恒定律对其内在物理机制进行了理论分析,并讨论了对谐波阶次、偏振态（自旋角动量）以及拓扑荷数（轨道角动量）进行调控的方法。研究结果为开发高亮度、超短超快、短波长、自旋与轨道角动量可调控的涡旋光束辐射源提供了理论依据,在光学微操控、超分辨成像、光通信以及离子加速等领域具有较大的实际应用前景。     

Tight focusing of spirally polarized vortex beams

The tight focusing of spirally polarized focused vortex beams is analyzed numerically based on the vectorial Debye theory. The expressions for the electric field and the orbital angular momentum of focused beams are derived. It is shown that the intensity distribution in the focal plane is dependent on the specific spirally polarized state and the coefficient of the spiral polarization function. By presenting the phase contours of the component polarized in the radial direction, it is found that the radii of dislocation lines will increase with the increase of the power of the spirally polarization function. It is reveled that the same orbital angular momentum can be obtained for different spirally polarized state at certain distance along the propagation direction in the focal region. Besides, the orbital angular momentum distributions for different polarized states have fewer crossover points with each other for higher topological charge. The influence of the spirally polarized state on the orbital angular momentum in the focal plane is also studied.     

用波晶片相位板产生角动量可调的无衍射涡旋空心光束

本文提出了一种用波晶片产生无衍射涡旋空心光束的新方案. 根据晶体双折射的性质, 设计波晶片的厚度, 在一块晶体薄片上对o光和e光分别形成各自的四台阶相位板, 线偏振光入射到该相位板后, o光和e光衍射按强度叠加, 利用准伽利略望远镜系统聚焦, 得到近似无衍射涡旋空心光束. 光路简单, 调节方便. 在近轴条件下, 运用菲涅耳衍射理论和经典电磁场角动量理论, 数值模拟计算了周期数不同的两块波晶片相位板衍射光强和角动量的分布, 结果表明: 两块相位板都能在较长距离内产生近似无衍射涡旋空心光束, 光强和轨道角动量的分布与螺旋相位板产生的涡旋光束基本相同. 在衍射光路中加入相位补偿器, 调节o光和e光的相位差可以调节自旋角动量的大小, 从而可以调节总角动量密度和平均光子角动量的大小. 用这种空心光束导引冷原子或冷分子, 原子在与光子相互作用过程中可获得可调的转动力矩.     

Rotational Doppler Effect: A Review

Generally, the linear motion between the source of a wave and an observer leads to a linear Doppler effect. It is associated with the linear momentum of the wave. For electromagnetic beams having a circular polarization or an azimuthal phase distribution, the rotation between the source and the observer results in a less well-known rotational Doppler effect. It is associated with the angular momentum of the wave. This is particularly the case for vortex beams. Here, the various physical insights that are given to explain the origin of the rotational Doppler effect is reviewed. The focus is on different cases where such an effect gives information on the rotational nature of the probed systems, and also on cases where the rotational Doppler effect is useless. Still debated issues and possible applications are then presented.     

Generation of diffraction-free vectorial elliptic hollow beams with space-varying inhomogeneous polarizations

Diffraction-free vectorial elliptic hollow beams (vEHBs) are generated by an optical system composed of a short elliptic hollow fiber (EHF) and an axicon. Each beam has a closed elliptic annular intensity profile and space-varying polarization states in its diffraction-free distance of more than 1 m. The generated beams have a counter-clockwise or clockwise periodically-rotated inhomogeneous polarization. And the spin angular momentum (SAM) of the vEHBs is 1ħ or -1ħ which is consistent with the type of dual-mode in the EHF and the periodic polarization rotations of the vEHBs. The vEHBs have potential applications in optically trapping and micromanipulating the micro- or nano-particles, quantum information transmission, and Bose-Einstein condensates, etc.     

Topological defects, geometric phases, and the angular momentum of light

Recent reports on the intriguing features of vector vortex bearing beams are analyzed using geometric phases in optics. It is argued that the spin redirection phase induced circular birefringence is the origin of topological phase singularities arising in the inhomogeneous polarization patterns. A unified picture of recent results is presented based on this proposition. Orbital angular momentum (OAM) shift within the light beam has exact equivalence with the angular momentum holonomy associated with the geometric phase consistent with our conjecture.     

Properties of circularly polarized vortex beams

The properties of circularly polarized vortex beams in cylindrical polarization bases are studied. A circularly polarized vortex beam is decomposed into radial and azimuthal polarization. With the proper combination of vortex charge and the handedness of the circular polarization, a focal field with an extremely strong longitudinal component as well as a flat-topped profile can be obtained. The cylindrical decomposition also sheds light on the connections between orbital angular momentum and the spin of the light beams.     

The multielectron dissociative ionization dynamics of N2 molecule in intense femtosecond laser fields with arbitrary polarization

The field-ionization Coulomb explosion model is extended to investigate the multielectron dissociative ionization process of N₂ molecule irradiated by an intense femtosecond laser field with an arbitrary polarization. The ionization process of N₂ molecule is found to be optimal at the critical internuclear distance R_c=7a.u., which is independent of the laser polarization state, the molecular explosion channel and the angle between the molecular axis and the direction of laser electric field. The kinetic energies of the ion fragments are identical in the cases of linear and circular polarizations at the same incident laser intensity. However,the probability of electron ionization is very sensitive to the above three parameters. At the critical distance R_c=7a.u. the angular dependence of the threshold intensity for the over-the-barrier ionization leads to the geometric alignment of molecules in the case of linear polarization. The threshold intensity in the case of circular polarization is apparently higher than that in the case of linear polarization, which can well explain the significant decrease of ionization in the case of circular polarization. The numerical calculations are compared with the experimental measurements.     

利用振幅光栅生成拉盖尔、高斯光束的实验研究

拉盖尔高斯(Laguerre-Gaussian，LG)光束由于其独特的相位结构和轨道角动量特性在微粒旋转操纵和信息处理等方面得到了越来越多的重视.对利用振幅型叉状衍射光栅产生LG光束进行了理论分析，采用计算全息图的方法制作了振幅型叉状衍射光栅，实验上获得了角量子数为±1的LG光束，并对光束变换过程中影响光束特性的主要因素进行了讨论.     

利用振幅光栅生成拉盖尔-高斯光束的实验研究

拉盖尔高斯(Laguerre-Gaussian,LG)光束由于其独特的相位结构和轨道角动量特性在微粒旋转操纵和信息处理等方面得到了越来越多的重视.对利用振幅型叉状衍射光栅产生LG光束进行了理论分析,采用计算全息图的方法制作了振幅型叉状衍射光栅,实验上获得了角量子数为±1的LG光束,并对光束变换过程中影响光束特性的主要因素进行了讨论. 关键词： 信息光学 拉盖尔高斯光束 计算全息光栅 光束轨道角动量     

Polarization dependence of natural and field-induced one-photon and multiphoton interactions

Natural and induced linear and nonlinear processes are discussed from a unified viewpoint. In each case the dependences of a nonlinear optical process on the geometry of the experimental arrangement, including the polarization of the light beams, on the one hand, and on the physical couplings on the other are separated in an optimally efficient and convenient manner. The method is based on a generalization of the quantum theory of angular momentum, in diagram notation, to all molecular and crystal symmetry groups. Recent applications of such methods, including Raman and Compton scattering, magnetic circular dichroism, Raman optical activity and the hyper-Raman effect, are reviewed and extended.     

Effect of the spiral phase element on the radial-polarization (0, 1) LG beam

Radially-polarized beams can be strongly amplified without significant birefringent-induced aberrations. However, radially-polarized beam is a high-order beam, and therefore has to be transformed into a fundamental Gaussian beam for reduction the beam-propagation factor M². In effort to transform the radially-polarized beam to a nearly-Gaussian beam, we consider effect of a spiral phase element (SPE) on the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) (0, 1)^∗ beam with radial polarization, and compare this with the case when the input beam is a LG (0, 1)^∗ beam with spiral phase and uniform or random polarization. The LG (0, 1)^∗ beam with radial polarization, despite its identity in intensity profile to the beam with spiral phase, has distinctly different properties when interacting with the SPE. With the SPE and spatial filter, we transformed the radially-polarized (0, 1)^∗ mode with M² = 2.8 to a nearly-Gaussian beam with M² = 1.7. Measured transformation efficiency was 50%, and the beam brightness P/(M²)² was practically unchanged. The SPE affects polarization state of the radially-polarized beam, leading to appearance of spin angular momentum in the beam center at the far-field.     

Higher-order Poincaré sphere, stokes parameters, and the angular momentum of light

A higher-order Poincaré sphere and Stokes parameter representation of the higher-order states of polarization of vector vortex beams that includes radial and azimuthal polarized cylindrical vector beams is presented. The higher-order Poincaré sphere is constructed by naturally extending the Jones vector basis of plane wave polarization in terms of optical spin angular momentum to the total optical angular momentum that includes higher dimensional orbital angular momentum. The salient properties of this representation are illustrated by its ability to describe the higher-order modes of optical fiber waveguides, more exotic vector beams, and a higher-order Pancharatnam-Berry geometric phase.     

光子高阶轨道角动量制备、调控及传感应用研究进展

光子既是经典信息也是量子信息的理想载体. 单个光子不仅可以携带自旋角动量(与光波的圆偏振相关), 还可以携带轨道角动量(与光波的螺旋相位相关). 而轨道角动量的重要意义在于可利用单个光子的量子态构建一个高维的Hilbert空间, 从而实现高维量子信息的编码. 自Allen等于1992年确认光子轨道角动量的物理存在以来, 轨道角动量在经典光学和量子光学领域展现了诸多诱人的应用前景, 目前已成为国际光学领域的研究热点之一. 本综述将着重介绍高阶轨道角动量光束的制备与调控技术, 特别是高阶轨道角动量的量子纠缠态操控、旋转Doppler 效应测量及其在远程传感和精密测量技术中的应用.     

A simple analytical model of the angular momentum transformation in strongly focused light beams

A ray-optics model is proposed to describe the vector beam transformation in a strongly focusing optical system. In contrast to usual approaches based on the focused field distribution near the focal plane, we use the beam pattern formed immediately after the exit aperture. In this cross section, details of the output field distribution are of minor physical interest but proper allowance is made for transformation of the beam polarization state. This enables the spin and orbital angular momentum representations to be obtained, which are valid for any cross section of the transformed beam. Simple analytical results are available for a transversely homogeneous, circularly polarized incident beam confined by a circular aperture. Variations of the spin and orbital angular momenta of the output beam with change of the focusing strength are analyzed. The analytical results are in good qualitative and reasonable quantitative agreement with the results of numerical calculations performed for the Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian beams. The model supplies an efficient and physically transparent means for qualitative analysis of the spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion. It can be generalized to incident beams with complex spatial and polarization structure.     

Radially and azimuthally polarized beams generated by space-variant dielectric subwavelength gratings

We present a novel method for forming radially and azimuthally polarized beams by using computer-generated subwavelength dielectric gratings. The elements were deposited upon GaAs substrates and produced beams with a polarization purity of 99.2% at a wavelength of 10.6 microm . We have verified the polarization properties with full space-variant polarization analysis and measurement, and we show that such beams have certain vortexlike properties and that they carry angular momentum.