Electro-optic frequency combs carrying orbital angular momentum

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the generation of optical frequency combs carrying orbital angular momentum using electro-optic phase modulation, bridging two research fields and enabling new applications in communications and quantum information.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to produce OAM-carrying OFCs via electro-optic modulation, connecting the fields of OFCs and OAM for the first time.

Findings

Successfully generated OFCs with OAM on each comb line.

Verified the OAM characteristic of sidebands matches the pump light.

Opened new research avenues in communications and quantum technologies.

Abstract

To date, orbital angular momentum (OAM) and optical frequency combs (OFCs) are two distinct fields of research without any association. Herein, we generated OFCs with an OAM on each comb line by applying electro-optic phase modulation to the OAM beam. We verified that the OAM characteristic of the sidebands is consistent with that of the pump light. Our study bridges two distinct research fields OFCs and OAM opening the door to various fundamental research avenues and applications, including large-capacity optical communications, high-security optical encryption, multi-dimensional photon entanglement, and synthetic dimensions.