Optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in inhomogeneous anisotropic media
Optics
2007-12-04 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Quantum Physics
Abstract
We demonstrate experimentally an optical process in which the spin angular momentum carried by a circularly polarized light beam is converted into orbital angular momentum, leading to the generation of helical modes with a wavefront helicity controlled by the input polarization. This phenomenon requires the interaction of light with matter that is both optically inhomogeneous and anisotropic. The underlying physics is also associated with the so-called Pancharatnam-Berry geometrical phases involved in any inhomogeneous transformation of the optical polarization.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0712.0099,
title = {Optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in inhomogeneous anisotropic media},
author = {L. Marrucci and C. Manzo and D. Paparo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.0099},
year = {2007}
}