Abstract

We have theoretically predicted gigantic spikes of orbital angular momentum caused by conversion processes of the centered optical vortex in the circularly polarized components of an elliptic vortex beam propagating perpendicularly to the crystal optical axis. We have experimentally observed the conversion process inside subwave deviations of the crystal length. We have found that the total orbital angular momentum of the wave beam is conserved.

© 2011 Optical Society of America

Electrically controlling spin and orbital angular momentum of a focused light beam in a uniaxial crystal

Wenguo Zhu and Weilong She
Opt. Express 20(23) 25876-25883 (2012)

Dynamics of optical spin-orbit coupling in uniaxial crystals

Etienne Brasselet, Yana Izdebskaya, Vladlen Shvedov, Anton S. Desyatnikov, Wieslaw Krolikowski, and Yuri S. Kivshar
Opt. Lett. 34(7) 1021-1023 (2009)

Orbital angular momentum in noncollinear second-harmonic generation by off-axis vortex beams

Fabio Antonio Bovino, Matteo Braccini, Maurizio Giardina, and Concita Sibilia
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 28(11) 2806-2811 (2011)

Tuning the orbital angular momentum in optical vortex beams

Christian H. J. Schmitz, Kai Uhrig, Joachim P. Spatz, and Jennifer E. Curtis
Opt. Express 14(15) 6604-6612 (2006)

Vortex-bearing array of singular beams with very high orbital angular momentum

Yana Izdebskaya, Tatyana Fadeyeva, Vladlen Shvedov, and Alexander Volyar
Opt. Lett. 31(17) 2523-2525 (2006)