Related papers: Light--absorbed orbital angular momentum in the li…
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…
We study the spin dynamics of carriers due to the Rashba interaction in semiconductor quantum disks and wells after excitation with light with orbital angular momentum. We find that although twisted light transfers orbital angular momentum…
Following the very recent experimental realisation of electron vortices, we consider their interaction with matter, in particular the transfer of orbital angular momentum in the context of electron energy loss spectroscopy, and the recently…
Optical rectification of intense, circularly polarized light penetrating a material generates a static magnetic field aligned with the light's direction and proportional to its intensity. Recent experiments have unveiled a substantial,…
An optical vortex beam carries orbital angular momentum $\ell$ in addition to spin angular momentum $\sigma$. We demonstrate that a Landau-quantized two dimensional electron system absorbs the optical vortex beam through modified selection…
We report the first demonstration of a direct interaction between the extraordinary transverse spin angular momentum in evanescent waves and the intrinsic orbital angular momentum in optical vortex beams. By tapping the evanescent wave of…
Optical absorption of circularly polarized light is well known to yield an electron spin polarization in direct band gap semiconductors. We demonstrate that electron spins can even be generated with high efficiency by absorption of linearly…
When structured light is propagated through the atmosphere, turbulence results in modal scattering and distortions. An extensively studied example is that of light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM), where the atmosphere is treated as…
Non-resonant circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation can exert torques on magnetization by the Inverse Faraday Effect (IFE). Here we discuss the enhancement of IFE by spin-orbit interactions (SOI). We illustrate the principle by…
Photon carries linear momentum and angular momentum simultaneously. Within the light-matter interaction process, exchange of linear momentum results in optical forces, whereas exchange of angular momentum leads to optical torques. Use of…
Circularly-polarized light is well-known to induce, or flip the direction of, magnetization in solids. At its heart, this arises from time-reversal symmetry breaking by the vector potential, causing inverse-Faraday or analogous physical…
The controlled rotation of solid particles trapped in a liquid by an ultrasonic vortex beam is observed. Single polystyrene beads, or clusters, can be trapped against gravity while simultaneously rotated. The induced rotation of a single…
The observed magnetization switching by circularly polarized ultrafast laser pulses has been attributed to the inverse Faraday effect in which the induced non-equilibrium orbital momentum serves as an effective magnetic filed via spin-orbit…
The transverse beam pattern, usually observed in experiment, is a result of averaging the optical-frequency oscillations of the electromagnetic field distributed over the beam cross section. An analytical criterion is derived that these…
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 optical generation of nonequilibrium spin magnetization plays a crucial role in advancing spintronics, providing ultrafast control of magnetization dynamics without the need for magnetic fields. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of…
The inverse Faraday effect is an opto-magnetic phenomenon that describes the ability of circularly polarized light to induce magnetism in solids. The capability of light to control magnetic order in solid state materials and devices is of…
The partial reflection of an electromagnetic (EM) wave from a medium leads to absorption of momentum in the direction perpendicular to the surface (the standard radiation pressure) {and, for oblique incidence on a partially reflecting…
Partially gold coated 90 degree glass wedges and a semi - infinite slit in a thin film of gold ending in a conducting nano-junction serve as samples to investigate the transfer of photon spin to electron orbital angular momentum. These…
Angular momentum and torque are important principles for basic and applied physics on any spatial scales, for example, in elementary particles, cold gases, optical tweezers, quantum information technology, metamaterials, gyroscopes or…