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Published on: February 27, 2019
Search for Hermite-Gauss mode rotation in cholesteric liquid crystals.
W Löffler1, M P van Exter, G W 't Hooft
1Huygens Laboratory, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. loeffler@physics.leidenuniv.nl
Optics Express
|July 13, 2011
Summary
Researchers searched for an optical rotation analogous to spin angular momentum effects but found none for orbital angular momentum. The phase velocities of light
Area of Science:
- Optics
- Photonics
- Liquid Crystals
Background:
- Analogous transformations for light's spin and orbital angular momentum (OAM) are theoretically proposed but experimentally unverified.
- The existence of an optical rotation effect for OAM, similar to spin angular momentum-based optical rotation, remains unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate the existence of an optical rotation analogous to spin angular momentum-based optical rotation for the orbital angular momentum of light.
- To search for a rotation of Hermite-Gauss modes, which would indicate an OAM-based optical rotation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized strongly focused, spin-orbit coupled light.
- Employed a cholesteric liquid crystal polymer as the experimental medium.
- Measured the relative phase velocities of the orbital modes within a Hermite-Gauss mode.
Main Results:
- The experimental search for OAM-based optical rotation yielded no observable effect.
- The relative phase velocities of the constituent orbital modes of the Hermite-Gauss mode were found to agree with high precision (within 10^-5).
Conclusions:
- This study provides the first experimental search for OAM-based optical rotation, finding no evidence for such an effect.
- The precise agreement in phase velocities suggests that current experimental conditions do not induce a distinct rotation of Hermite-Gauss modes.
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