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Frontiers in Optics

Creating exotic potentials in an optical trap by exploiting the spin orbit interaction of light

Basudev Roy, Nirmalya Ghosh, S. Dutta Gupta, Ayan Banerjee

Published Jan 1, 2013• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Spin orbit interaction of light in a tightly focused Gaussian beam propagating through stratified media results in large anisotropic linear diattenuation creating a polarization dependent intensity profile near the focal plane of an optical trap.
DOI
10.1364/fio.2013.ftu1f.6

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This article investigates the quadrupole excitation of a trapped atom exposed to the tightly focused Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams with parallel and antiparallel spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) under nonparaxial conditions. The Rabi frequency profile of allowed quadrupole transition channels, modified by SAM and OAM interaction, in the focal plane is provided. In the case of antiparallel SAM and OAM, the excitation probability undergoes substantial modification due to the considerable contribution of longitudinal intensity variations in tightly focused condition. The findings offer insights into controlling localized atom transition, including OAM transfer, with potential applications in qudit-based technologies.
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