English

Measurement of Orbital Angular Momentum of Light using Stokes Parameters and Barnett's Formalism

Optics 2023-02-28 v1

Abstract

We present a formalism for experimental determination of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of a paraxial optical beam-field by intertwining Barnett's formalism and Stokes parameter measurements. Using Barnett's formalism we calculate the OAM flux density of a suitably general 2-dimensional beam-field; and re-express it in terms of experimentally measurable quantities. Considering a demonstrative optical system, we obtain the OAM flux density profiles, total OAM flux and OAM per photon -- leading towards the experimental characterization of OAM using Barnett's formalism. Our method will find potential applications in nano-optical processes involving the transfer of electromagnetic OAM to particles and across interfaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2302.14025,
  title  = {Measurement of Orbital Angular Momentum of Light using Stokes Parameters and Barnett's Formalism},
  author = {Anirban Debnath and Nirmal K. Viswanathan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.14025},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

8 pages, 4 figures