Work

Spatiotemporal vortex beams and angular momentum

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: We present a space-time generalization of the known spatial (monochromatic) wave vortex beams carrying intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM) along the propagation direction. Generic spatiotemporal vortex beams are polychromatic and can carry intrinsic OAM at an arbitrary angle to the mean momentum. Applying either (i) a transverse wave-vector shift or (ii) a Lorentz boost to a monochromatic Bessel beam, we construct a family of either (i) time-diffracting or (ii) nondiffracting spatiotemporal Bessel beams, which are exact solutions of the Klein-Gordon wave equations. The proposed spatiotemporal OAM states are able to describe either photon or electron vortex states (both relativistic and nonrelativistic) and have potential applications in particle collisions, optics of moving media, quantum communications, and astrophysics.

Source: Physical Review A

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.86.033824

Authors: Konstantin Y. Bliokh, Franco Nori

Institutions: RIKEN, RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, O.Ya. Usikov Institute for Radiophysics and Electronics, University of Michigan

Language: English

Topic: Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze