Title :
Measuring light´s twist
Author :
Lavery, Martin P J ; Courtial, Johannes ; Robertson, David J. ; Love, Gordon D. ; Berkhout, Gregorius C G ; Padgett, Miles J.
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Phys. & Astron., Univ. of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Abstract :
Light carries an orbital angular momentum in addition to, and independent, of photon spin. Whereas the spin angular momentum (polarization) has only two orthogonal states, the orbital angular momentum has any number. To use this extra information we present a multi-way beam splitter to efficiently separate individual photons according to their orbital angular momentum.
Keywords :
angular momentum; optical beam splitters; light twist; multiway beam splitter; orbital angular momentum; orthogonal states; photon spin; spin angular momentum; Extraterrestrial measurements; Laser beams; Measurement by laser beam; Optical imaging; Optical interferometry; Optical polarization; Photonics;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 2012 Conference on
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-1839-6
