Posted on 06/28/2019 5:19:41 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Beams with highly structured angular momentum are said to have orbital angular momentum (OAM), and are called vortex beams. They appear as a helix surrounding a common center, and when they strike a flat surface, they appear as doughnut-shaped. In this new effort, the researchers were working with OAM beams when they found the light behaving in a way that had never been seen before.
The experiments involved firing two lasers at a cloud of argon gas—doing so forced the beams to overlap, and they joined and were emitted as a single beam from the other side of the argon cloud. The result was a type of vortex beam. The researchers then wondered what would happen if the lasers had different orbital angular momentum and if they were slightly out of sync. This resulted in a beam that looked like a corkscrew with a gradually changing twist. And when the beam struck a flat surface, it looked like a crescent moon. The researchers noted that looked at another way, a single photon at the front of the beam was orbiting around its center more slowly than a photon at the back of the beam. The researchers promptly dubbed the new property self-torque—and not only is it a newly discovered property of light, it is also one that has never even been predicted.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
What Is the difference between orbital angular momentum and circular polarization?
Put this into English for those of us that are interested but can’t understand a WORD, please. :)
They crossed the beams. I thought you weren’t supposed to do that:)
I give up.
Tell me the difference between orbital angular momentum and circular polarization.
I’m expecting a real knee slapper of an answer.
My mom taught me to ALWAYS keep my beams crossed.
Physics, need more physics
I couldn’t follow this new concept at all
Obviously light years ahead of the posters..
Are You Logged In?
lol
That was true in the 1980s-1990s, but they've worked the technology out.
I take OAM as having variable "helical lead" for a given wavelength of light. Not sure how this is made.
I’ll pass the request to some RATs. They know all about spin
The researchers suggest that it should be possible to use their technique to modulate the orbital angular momentum of light in ways very similar to modulating frequencies in communications equipment. This could lead to the development of novel devices that make use of manipulating extremely tiny materials.
...
I like to know about the possible applications.
> not only is it a newly discovered property of light, it is also one that has never even been predicted <
Wrong. I predicted all that years ago! Unfortunately all my notes were lost (along with all my guns) in a boating accident.
Yeah, man, like I saw this at the Planetarium in Seattle.
Think they were playing Pink Floyd.
It was far out.
Polar is based on phase. Momentum is based on angular velocity.
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