Related papers: Optical angular momentum in atomic transitions: a …
Traditionally, the angular momentum of light is calculated for "bullet-like" electromagnetic wave packets, although in actual optical experiments "pencil-like" beams of light are more commonly used. The fact that a wave packet is bounded…
Photons carrying a well-defined orbital angular momentum have been proven to modify spectroscopic selection rules in atomic matter. Excitation profiles of electric quadrupole transitions have been measured with single trapped $^{40}$Ca$^+$…
By means of the Helmholtz theorem on the decomposition of vector fields, the angular momentum of the classical electromagnetic field is decomposed, in a general and manifestly gauge invariant manner, into a spin component and an orbital…
Electromagnetic waves carry energy as well as linear and angular momenta. When a light pulse is reflected from, transmitted through, or absorbed by a material medium, energy and momentum (both linear and angular) are generally exchanged,…
Illumination of a two-dimensional system by a twisted light beam is considered in order to find specific effects caused by twisting. Direct interband transitions between the valence and conduction bands are supposed. The generation rates of…
Physical mechanism for the geometric phase in terms of angular momentum exchange is elucidated. It is argued that the geometric phase arising out of the cyclic changes in the tranverse mode space of the Gaussian light beams is a…
Recent studies have confirmed the coupling of optical vortices, such as Laguerre-Gaussian and Bessel-Gaussian modes, to quadrupole-active atomic transitions. This interaction has been shown to be enhanced considerably in the case of…
This paper analyzes the algebraic and physical properties of the spin and orbital angular momenta of light in the quantum mechanical framework. The consequences of the fact that these are not angular momenta in the quantum mechanical sense…
Fundamental and applied concepts concerning the ability of light beams to carry a certain mechanical angular momentum with respect to the propagation axis are reviewed and discussed. Following issues are included: Historical reference;…
Optical intrinsic angular momentum can be regarded as derivation from spatial superposition of optical vector fields embodied by spinning or and spiraling the electric field vector. We employ vectorial formulation derivation to…
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) from a laser beam can be coherently transferred to a Bose-Einstein condensate in a ring trap, in quantized units of $\hbar$. The light-matter coupling allows for the superradiant transfer of the atoms…
It is shown that the spin and orbital angular momentum of electric dipole photons have the same operator structure and may differ from each other only by spatial dependence in the very vicinity of the atom. It is shown that the photon twins…
We examine several retro-reflecting optical elements, each involving two reflections. In the case of a hollow metallic cone having an apex angle of 90\degree, a circularly-polarized incident beam acquires, upon reflection, the opposite spin…
The transition probability for the emission of a Bessel photon by an atomic system is calculated within first order perturbation theory. We derive a closed expression for the electromagnetic potentials beyond the paraxial approximation that…
Radiation from a localized, oscillating charge distribution can have angular momentum that cannot be explained in classical electrodynamics. We consider the simplest example -- electric dipole radiation of a single photon -- and show that…
Generation and detection of structured light have recently been the subject of intense study, aiming to realize high-capacity optical storage and continuous-variable quantum technologies. Here, we present a scheme to extract the orbital…
We provide a vivid demonstration of the mechanical effect of transverse spin momentum in an optical beam in free space. This component of the Poynting momentum was previously thought to be virtual, and unmeasurable. Here, its effect is…
The angular momentum density and flux of light in a dispersive, rotationally symmetric medium are derived from Noether's theorem. Optical angular momentum in a dispersive medium has no simple relation to optical linear momentum, even if the…
Many atomic processes result in the emission of photons. Analysis of the properties of emitted photons, such as energy and angular distribution as well as polarization, is regarded as a powerful tool for gaining more insight into the…
An atom moving in a vacuum at constant velocity and parallel to a surface experiences a frictional force induced by the dissipative interaction with the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We show that the combination of…