Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material
Published on: May 20, 2013
Bright and dark helices of light
1School of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK. O.Steuernagel@herts.ac.uk
Abstract:
Laser beams can be made to form bright and dark intensity helices of light. Such helices have a pitch length on the order of a wavelength and may have applications in lithography and the manipulation of particles through optical forces. The formation of bright helices is more strongly constrained by optical resolution limits than that of dark helices, corresponding scaling laws are derived and their relevance for photo-lithography pointed out. It is shown how to arrange dark helices on a grid in massively parallel fashion in order to create handed materials using photo-lithographic techniques.
Related Concept Videos
Interference and Diffraction
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Anatomy of the Eyeball
The Wave Nature of Light
Focusing of Light in the Eye
Light as Energy
Photons
A photon is a discrete electromagnetic particle or bundle of energy. Photons are characterized by their frequency, wavelength, and amplitude, similar to the properties of a wave. Waves with higher frequencies transmit more energy and have shorter wavelengths than longer wavelengths that transmit less...

