Challenges in Orbital Angular Momentum
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Stand in the way of a light beam and it could both knock you over and send you in a twirl. Over 100 years ago Maxwell worked out the fundamental equations describing how light propagates through space. Embedded within these equations is that light carries both energy and momentum, but although its energy is apparent in our everyday lives, its momentum is not. However, shine light down a microscope and its momentum can be seen to move, or trap, microscopic objects. Circularly polarized light also carries a Spin Angular Momentum causing the microscopic object to spin. Although the study of light has been central to the development of modern physics, it was not until the 1990's that it was realized that a whole new class of light beam could be created simply in the laboratory. Inserting a modified diffraction grating in the beam from a laser pointer is all that is required to create a light beam carrying Orbital Angular Momentum. The effect of OAM can be 100's time greater than that given by the spin alone - allowing our previous demonstration of the optical rotation of microscopic objects: an optical spanner! Beyond microscopic rotations, Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) opens new opportunities across optical science.We wish to unlock the potential of OAM in both classical and quantum science. However, fundamental questions remain pertaining both to the underlying physics and technological limitations. This research programme will address these limitations, each a scientific achievement in their own right but together paving the route to:- OAM to enable an improved form of microscopy.- OAM as a secure basis on which to build a fast cryptographic network.- OAM at the heart of new types of optical sensors. We benefit from critical friends and will form an international steering panel to meet annually with the team. We have the agreement of two of the world's leading scientists to serve on this panel. To maximise our wider impact, the panel will also include an industrialist from Scottish Enterprise and be convened by the chair of the Glasgow University KT committee. The panel will agree with the PIs, quantitative targets for high-impact journal publications, invited talks at both academic and industrial events and, most importantly, targets for exploitation (patents, license, consultancy).
Planned Impact
Communications and engagement With respect to our scientific peers, we will use the well-tested routes of engaging with beneficiaries via publications, conference presentations and reviews in wider-access publications. We will additionally establish a website to highlight and explain both the techniques and the results that can be obtained with OAM over a wide range of fields. We will also make various videos of our research available via our website and YouTube, which we have previously found useful for public and politicians alike! (See, for example, http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Optics/projects/tweezers/tweezers_movie.mov). With respect to the general public, many members of the extended grouping are leaders in Science Outreach. This occurs at formal and informal levels with Schools and Science Centres. Over the years both Barnett's and Padgett's groups have organised summers schools, targeted at secondary teachers (the next is planned for 2011), hosted school visits and delivered lectures/workshops at schools and public venues. The communication offices of the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde prepare press releases announcing significant advances in research by University Research Groups. They maintain good connections to the important scientific correspondents at the BBC and the broadsheets. Third party press coverage of our work typically amounts to scores of articles each year, featuring three or four different research results (for examples, see http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/Optics/press). The benefit of running Open Days was established during our Basic Technology Dynamic Holographic Assembler project (collaboration with Bristol). These Open Days consisted of presentations and hands-on demonstrations of the technology to interested parties. In this way, we have been able to introduce a novel technique to previously unidentified beneficiaries, thereby increasing the value of the project. The regional development agency (i.e. Scottish Enterprise) has acted as a catalyst for new commercial connections supporting and promoting such events across its regional business. We will follow the same model for this programme, especially once our technology demonstrators are operational. Exploitation and Application Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities have excellent Enterprise divisions, thoroughly experienced in drafting, filing, managing and licensing patents originating from such projects. The Barnett and Padgett Groups have filed a number of patents, involving both their joint and individual work with various bodies, including industrial organisations. We also have experience of licensing our technology with the support of the enterprise team. For example, Padgett's group has had extensive experience in exactly this aspect of instrument design and construction. Examples include the design and manufacture of a Fourier-transform spectrometer for the detection of toxic gases; gas monitoring systems for monitoring volcanic gases; a bed-side monitor of exhaled ethane at the ppb level; a vehicle installed gas detection system for detection of oil and gas reserves; a fluorescent detection system for early stage skin cancers and, most recently, holographic optical tweezers installed and operational in a number of collaborating laboratories. We have collaborations with various possible end-users, both within Glasgow and further afield.
Organisations
Publications
Aspden R
(2015)
Photon-sparse microscopy: visible light imaging using infrared illumination
in Optica
Aspden R
(2016)
Heralded phase-contrast imaging using an orbital angular momentum phase-filter
in Journal of Optics
Aspden R
(2013)
EPR-based ghost imaging using a single-photon-sensitive camera
in New Journal of Physics
Barnett S
(2014)
Optical Dirac equation
in New Journal of Physics
Barnett S
(2016)
On the natures of the spin and orbital parts of optical angular momentum
in Journal of Optics
Barnett S
(2016)
Reply to Comment on 'Energy conservation and the constitutive relations in chiral and non-reciprocal media'
in Journal of Optics
Barnett S
(2014)
Maxwellian theory of gravitational waves and their mechanical properties
in New Journal of Physics
Barnett S
(2015)
Theory of radiation pressure on magneto-dielectric materials
in New Journal of Physics
Barnett S
(2012)
Duplex symmetry and its relation to the conservation of optical helicity
in Physical Review A
Barnett S
(2013)
Superweak momentum transfer near optical vortices
in Journal of Optics
Barnett S
(2016)
Energy conservation and the constitutive relations in chiral and non-reciprocal media
in Journal of Optics
Barnett SM
(2013)
Comment on "Trouble with the Lorentz law of force: incompatibility with special relativity and momentum conservation".
in Physical review letters
Berkhout GC
(2011)
Measuring orbital angular momentum superpositions of light by mode transformation.
in Optics letters
Brougham T
(2014)
Cavity-enabled high-dimensional quantum key distribution
in Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Cameron R
(2012)
Electric-magnetic symmetry and Noether's theorem
in New Journal of Physics
Cameron R
(2013)
Optical helicity of interfering waves
in Journal of Modern Optics
Cameron R
(2012)
Optical helicity, optical spin and related quantities in electromagnetic theory
in New Journal of Physics
Cameron R
(2014)
Discriminatory optical force for chiral molecules
in New Journal of Physics
Cameron RP
(2014)
Diffraction gratings for chiral molecules and their applications.
in The journal of physical chemistry. A
Cameron RP
(2014)
Optical activity in the scattering of structured light.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Edgar MP
(2015)
Simultaneous real-time visible and infrared video with single-pixel detectors.
in Scientific reports
Eleftheriadou E
(2013)
Quantum optical state comparison amplifier.
in Physical review letters
Ferenczi G
(2014)
Two-particle multi-mode interference
in Journal of Optics
Fickler R
(2014)
Interface between path and orbital angular momentum entanglement for high-dimensional photonic quantum information.
in Nature communications
Giovannini D
(2013)
Characterization of high-dimensional entangled systems via mutually unbiased measurements.
in Physical review letters
Giovannini D
(2015)
Optics. Spatially structured photons that travel in free space slower than the speed of light.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Giovannini D
(2012)
Determining the dimensionality of bipartite orbital-angular-momentum entanglement using multi-sector phase masks
in New Journal of Physics
Greenshields CR
(2014)
Is the angular momentum of an electron conserved in a uniform magnetic field?
in Physical review letters
Karimi E
(2014)
Exploring the quantum nature of the radial degree of freedom of a photon via Hong-Ou-Mandel interference
in Physical Review A
Lavery MP
(2013)
Detection of a spinning object using light's orbital angular momentum.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Leach J
(2012)
Quantum correlations in position, momentum, and intermediate bases for a full optical field of view
in Physical Review A
Lee MP
(2013)
A multi-modal stereo microscope based on a spatial light modulator.
in Optics express
Liu R
(2015)
Discrete emitters as a source of orbital angular momentum
in Journal of Optics
Mackay T
(2016)
Comment on 'Energy conservation and the constitutive relations in chiral and non-reciprocal media'
in Journal of Optics
Mafu M
(2013)
Higher-dimensional orbital-angular-momentum-based quantum key distribution with mutually unbiased bases
in Physical Review A
Malik M
(2014)
Direct measurement of a 27-dimensional orbital-angular-momentum state vector.
in Nature communications
McLaren M
(2013)
Two-photon optics of Bessel-Gaussian modes
in Physical Review A
Miatto F
(2012)
Bounds and optimisation of orbital angular momentum bandwidths within parametric down-conversion systems
in The European Physical Journal D
Miatto F
(2012)
Spatial Schmidt modes generated in parametric down-conversion
in The European Physical Journal D
Mirhosseini M
(2015)
High-dimensional quantum cryptography with twisted light
in New Journal of Physics
Morris PA
(2015)
Imaging with a small number of photons.
in Nature communications
Padgett M
(2015)
Divergence of an orbital-angular-momentum-carrying beam upon propagation
in New Journal of Physics
Padgett M
(2014)
Light's twist.
in Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences
Padgett MJ
(2017)
Orbital angular momentum 25 years on [Invited].
in Optics express
Potocek V
(2015)
Quantum Hilbert Hotel.
in Physical review letters
Potocek V
(2015)
On the exponential form of the displacement operator for different systems
in Physica Scripta
Potocek V
(2015)
Generalized ray optics and orbital angular momentum carrying beams
in New Journal of Physics
Potocek V
(2015)
Which-way information in a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer
in Physical Review A
Radwell N
(2015)
Spatially dependent electromagnetically induced transparency.
in Physical review letters
| Description | various: see group web site http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/research/groups/optics/ |
| Exploitation Route | various: see group web site http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/research/groups/optics/ |
| Sectors | Education,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| URL | http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/research/groups/optics/ |
| Description | various: see group web site http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/research/groups/optics/ |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Education,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Title | 3D single-pixel video |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | A fast 3D reconstruction system with a low-cost camera accessory. |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Heralded phase-contrast imaging using an orbital angular momentum phase-filter |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Hybrid 3D ranging and velocity tracking system combining multi-view cameras and simple LiDAR |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Imaging with a small number of photons |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Photon-sparse microscopy: Visible light imaging using infrared illumination |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Simultaneous real-time visible and infrared video with single-pixel detectors |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | Spatially structured photons that travel in free space slower than the speed of light |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |