Photonic orbital angular momentum with controllable orientation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel optical wave packet that combines spatiotemporal and spatial vortices, enabling a controllable, tilted orbital angular momentum which enhances the versatility of photon OAM applications.

Contribution

It introduces a new type of optical vortex with a tilted OAM resulting from the intersection of spatiotemporal and spatial vortices, adding a controllable degree of freedom.

Findings

Wave packet hosts a tilted orbital angular momentum.

Intersection of spatiotemporal and spatial vortices.

Enhanced control over photon orbital angular momentum.

Abstract

Vortices are whirling disturbances commonly found in nature ranging from tremendously small scales in Bose-Einstein condensates to cosmologically colossal scales in spiral galaxies. An optical vortex, generally associated with a spiral phase, can carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). The optical OAM can either be in the longitudinal direction if the spiral phase twists in the spatial domain or in the transverse direction if the phase rotates in the spatiotemporal domain. In this article, we demonstrate the intersection of spatiotemporal vortices and spatial vortices in a wave packet. As a result of this intersection, the wave packet hosts a tilted OAM that provides an additional degree of freedom to the applications that harness the OAM of photons.