Spatiotemporal helicon wavepackets

TL;DR

This paper introduces a four-dimensional spatiotemporal framework for creating propagation-invariant optical wavepackets with orbital angular momentum that evolve spirally in space and time, applicable in bulk media and fibers.

Contribution

It unifies concepts of conical waves and helicon beams into a 4D approach, revealing new propagation-invariant wavepackets with OAM in complex media.

Findings

Wavepackets are dispersion- and diffraction-free.

Wavepackets evolve on spiraling trajectories in space and time.

Nonlinear propagation can spontaneously generate these wavepackets.

Abstract

Propagation-invariant or non-diffracting optical beams have received considerable attention during the last two decades. However, the pulsed nature of light waves and the structured property of optical media like waveguides are often overlooked. We here present a four-dimensional spatiotemporal approach that extends and unifies both concepts of conical waves and helicon beams, mainly studied in bulk media. By taking advantage of tight correlations between the spatial modes, the topological charges, and the frequencies embedded in an optical field, we reveal propagation-invariant (dispersion- and diffraction-free) space-time wavepackets carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) that evolve on spiraling trajectories in both time and space in bulk media or multimode fibers. Besides their intrinsic linear nature, we show that such wave structures can spontaneously emerge when a rather intense ultrashort pulse propagates nonlinearly in OAM modes. With emerging technologies of pulse/beam shaping, multimode fibers and modal multiplexing, our proposed scheme to create OAM-carrying helicon wavepackets could find a plethora of applications.