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Undergraduate Research Journal

Laser Tweezers and Orbital Angular Momentum Photons

Elizabeth Rubino, Sean Cruikshank, Grigoriy Kreymerman

Published Apr 29, 2016• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

A photon can be considered both a particle and a wave in quantum mechanics. Quantum optics deals with such quantum mechanical properties of a photon. One such property that has been of particular interest recently is that of light’s momentum, specifically its linear momentum and orbital angular momentum (OAM). Light carrying both types of momentum are of particular utility to the life sciences. Linear momentum (LM) photons have the ability to directly manipulate particles. For example, photons with these properties can be used to separate one specific particle from a group. One can then more closely observe its properties. OAM photons have the potential to unravel DNA strands using the torque of the photons to further observe certain specific physical properties. Light carrying OAM has also shown promise in the field of information technology as a new means of sending large amounts of data over long distances securely and extremely quickly. Because photons behave quantum mechanically, the encryptions are much more difficult to decode, and since the information is being sent as light it clearly travels at the speed of light. This paper will provide background on the quantum optics of particle manipulation and the results from experimental studies performed on this topic. The results show evidence of light with both types of momentum being created and used to manipulate particles. We generated light with both types of momentum, trapped particles with optical tweezers, and measured the force on the particles with a high speed video camera, optical tweezers, and computer programs that we used to track the particles.

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Manipulation of Photonic Orbital Angular Momentum for Quantum Information Processing

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More than a century ago, pioneeringworks carried out by Poynting (1909) and other physicists have provided the evidence of the validity of Marxwell equations for an electromagnetic field, showing how a beam of light carries energy and momentum, both in the linear and angular components. In particular the angular momentum of light, related to the generator of rotations in quantum mechanics, has been typically associated with its polarization, and more specifically with its circular polarization components. An optical beam traveling in the positive direction of the z axis that is circularly polarized, carries a z-component angular momentum content σ = ±h per photon, which is positive if the circular polarization is left-handed and negative if it is right-handed. This angular momentum content is not just a formal property, but a very concrete one that can have significant mechanical effects as for example an observable induced rotation by absorption to amaterial particle Beth (1936); Friese et al. (1998)

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This Chapter presents a review of the quantum mechanical properties of spatially structured light fields, specifically those fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). This review is concerned both with the conceptual understanding of the quantum features of these light fields and with the use of these features for applications. We describe how to produce spatially entangled light fields by means of the nonlinear optical process of parametric downconversion. We ask and provide a tentative answer to the question of how much information can be encoded into a single photon. As an example, we review a recent experiment that demonstrated the ability to discriminate among four target objects using only one photon for illumination. We also present a description of the concept of the OAM of light, and we describe means to generate and detect OAM. We then present a brief survey of some recent studies of the fundamental quantum properties of structured light beams. Much of this work is aimed at studying the nature of entanglement for the complementary variables of angular position and OAM. Finally, as a realworld application, we describe a secure communication system based on quantum key distribution (QKD). This key distribution system makes use of encoding information in the OAM modes of light and hence is able to transmit more than one bit of information per photon. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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This thesis describes the experimental and theoretical work that investigated the transfer of orbital angular momentum from light to matter. This was achieved by combining two established areas of laser physics which were "optical tweezers" and Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes. The optical tweezers are essentially a tightly focussed laser beam from a high numerical aperture microscope objective lens, which traps particles in three dimensions just below the beam focus. By incorporating a Laguerre- Gaussian laser mode into the tweezers system, the trapping efficiency was doubled. These improved optical tweezers have been successfully demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. In addition to the spin angular momentum which is associated with the polarisation state, the Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes also possess orbital angular momentum. The "optical spanners" utilised this property by transferring orbital angular momentum from the laser beam to the trapped particle, causing it to rotate whilst being held in the optical trap. This effect was theoretically modelled and experimentally observed. Using the optical spanners, the spin angular momentum of the laser was used to directly cancel the orbital angular momentum in the beam, which was observed as a cessation in rotation of the trapped particle. This demonstrated the mechanical equivalence of the spin and orbital components of angular momentum in a light beam, and gave experimental evidence for the well defined nature of the orbital angular momentum present in Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes.

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Research progress on preparation, manipulation, and remote sensing applications of high-order orbital angular momentum of photons

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A photon can be considered both a particle and a wave in quantum mechanics. Quantum optics deals with such quantum mechanical properties of a photon. One such property that has been of particular interest recently is that of light’s momentum, specifically its linear momentum and orbital angular momentum (OAM). Light carrying both types of momentum are of particular utility to the life sciences. Linear momentum (LM) photons have the ability to directly manipulate particles. For example, photons with these properties can be used to separate one specific particle from a group. One can then more closely observe its properties. OAM photons have the potential to unravel DNA strands using the torque of the photons to further observe certain specific physical properties. Light carrying OAM has also shown promise in the field of information technology as a new means of sending large amounts of data over long distances securely and extremely quickly. Because photons behave quantum mechanically, the encryptions are much more difficult to decode, and since the information is being sent as light it clearly travels at the speed of light. This paper will provide background on the quantum optics of particle manipulation and the results from experimental studies performed on this topic. The results show evidence of light with both types of momentum being created and used to manipulate particles. We generated light with both types of momentum, trapped particles with optical tweezers, and measured the force on the particles with a high speed video camera, optical tweezers, and computer programs that we used to track the particles.
More than a century ago, pioneeringworks carried out by Poynting (1909) and other physicists have provided the evidence of the validity of Marxwell equations for an electromagnetic field, showing how a beam of light carries energy and momentum, both in the linear and angular components. In particular the angular momentum of light, related to the generator of rotations in quantum mechanics, has been typically associated with its polarization, and more specifically with its circular polarization components. An optical beam traveling in the positive direction of the z axis that is circularly polarized, carries a z-component angular momentum content σ = ±h per photon, which is positive if the circular polarization is left-handed and negative if it is right-handed. This angular momentum content is not just a formal property, but a very concrete one that can have significant mechanical effects as for example an observable induced rotation by absorption to amaterial particle Beth (1936); Friese et al. (1998)
This Chapter presents a review of the quantum mechanical properties of spatially structured light fields, specifically those fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). This review is concerned both with the conceptual understanding of the quantum features of these light fields and with the use of these features for applications. We describe how to produce spatially entangled light fields by means of the nonlinear optical process of parametric downconversion. We ask and provide a tentative answer to the question of how much information can be encoded into a single photon. As an example, we review a recent experiment that demonstrated the ability to discriminate among four target objects using only one photon for illumination. We also present a description of the concept of the OAM of light, and we describe means to generate and detect OAM. We then present a brief survey of some recent studies of the fundamental quantum properties of structured light beams. Much of this work is aimed at studying the nature of entanglement for the complementary variables of angular position and OAM. Finally, as a realworld application, we describe a secure communication system based on quantum key distribution (QKD). This key distribution system makes use of encoding information in the OAM modes of light and hence is able to transmit more than one bit of information per photon. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This thesis describes the experimental and theoretical work that investigated the transfer of orbital angular momentum from light to matter. This was achieved by combining two established areas of laser physics which were "optical tweezers" and Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes. The optical tweezers are essentially a tightly focussed laser beam from a high numerical aperture microscope objective lens, which traps particles in three dimensions just below the beam focus. By incorporating a Laguerre- Gaussian laser mode into the tweezers system, the trapping efficiency was doubled. These improved optical tweezers have been successfully demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. In addition to the spin angular momentum which is associated with the polarisation state, the Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes also possess orbital angular momentum. The "optical spanners" utilised this property by transferring orbital angular momentum from the laser beam to the trapped particle, causing it to rotate whilst being held in the optical trap. This effect was theoretically modelled and experimentally observed. Using the optical spanners, the spin angular momentum of the laser was used to directly cancel the orbital angular momentum in the beam, which was observed as a cessation in rotation of the trapped particle. This demonstrated the mechanical equivalence of the spin and orbital components of angular momentum in a light beam, and gave experimental evidence for the well defined nature of the orbital angular momentum present in Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes.
Photons are an ideal candidate for encoding both classical and quantum information. Besides spin angular momentum associated with circular polarization, single photon can also carry other fundamentally new degree of freedom of orbital angular momentum related to the spiral phase structure of light. The key significance of orbital angular momentum lies in its potential in realizing a high-dimensional Hilbert space and in encoding a high-dimensional quantum information. Since Allen et al. [Allen L, Beijersbergen M W, Spreeuw R J C, Woerdman J P 1992 Phys. Rev. A 45 8185] recognized the physical reality of photon orbital angular momentum in 1992, rapidly growing interest has been aroused in orbital angular momentum (OAM) from both classical and quantum points of view. Here we present an overall review on the high-order orbital angular momentum of photon, including its preparation and manipulation based on some specific techniques and also its applications. The spatial light modulator is a commercial device that has been widely employed to generate the OAM beams. We make and identify the optical OAM superposition with very high quantum numbers up to l=360. Recently, the metallic spiral phase mirrors were also developed to produce high-order OAM beams up to l=5050. In addition, the Q-plates made of anisotropic and inhomogeneous liquid crystals were invented to generate high-order OAM beams in a polarization-controllable manner, and the OAM superposition of l=± 50 were achieved. Owing to high rotational symmetry, these high OAM beams have been found to have more and more important applications in the fields of high-sensitivity sensing and high-precision measurements. Two fascinating examples are discussed in detail. The first example is that the research group led by Prof. Zeilinger has prepared and observed the quantum entanglement of high orbital angular momenta up to l=±300 by the technique of polarization-OAM entanglement swapping, and they demonstrated that the angular resolution could be significantly improved by a factor of l. Their result was the first step for entangling and twisting even macroscopic, spatially separated objects in two different directions. The second example is that the research group led by Prof. Padgett has demonstrated an elegant experiment of rotational Doppler effects for visible light with l=±20 OAM superposition. They showed that a spinning object with an optically rough surface might induce a Doppler effect in light reflected from the direction parallel to the rotation axis, and the frequency shift was proportional to both the disk's angular speed and the optical OAM. The potential applications in noncontact measurement of angular speed and in significant improvement of angular resolution for remote sensing will be particularly fascinating.
The identification of orbital angular momentum (OAM) as a fundamental property of a beam of light nearly 25 years ago has led to an extensive body of research around this topic. The possibility that single photons can carry OAM has made this degree of freedom an ideal candidate for the investigation of complex quantum phenomena and their applications. Research in this direction has ranged from experiments on complex forms of quantum entanglement to the interaction between light and quantum states of matter. Furthermore, the use of OAM in quantum information has generated a lot of excitement, as it allows for encoding large amounts of information on a single photon. Here, we explain the intuition that led to the first quantum experiment with OAM 15 years ago. We continue by reviewing some key experiments investigating fundamental questions on photonic OAM and the first steps to applying these properties in novel quantum protocols. At the end, we identify several interesting open questions that could form the subject of future investigations with OAM.This article is part of the themed issue 'Optical orbital angular momentum'.
This presentation first reviews the historical development of the field of nonlinear optics, starting from its inception in 1961. It then reviews some of its more recent developments, including especially how nonlinear optics has become a crucial tool for the developing field of quantum technologies. Fundamental quantum processes enabled by nonlinear optics, such as the creation of squeezed and entangled light states, are reviewed. We then illustrate these concepts by means of specific applications, such as the development of secure communication systems based on the quantum states of light. We are also interested in studying the properties of structured light fields. These structured light beams have recently been shown to possess exotic properties of their own, such as vacuum propagation velocities differing from the light velocity c for plane waves. These beams can also be tailored in such a way that they carry orbital angular momentum, which can be used to apply a torque to mechanical objects and as a carrier of information in a classical and quantum telecommunication system. Light can carry angular momentum both by means of its spin angular momentum (as manifested for example in circular polarization) and by means of its orbital angular momentum (OAM), whose origin is a helical structure of its wavefront. The orbital angular momentum of light has recently been recognized to constitute a crucial attribute for many photonic technologies, including the trapping and manipulation of small particles and for multiplexing in optical telecommunication. In this presentation we review some of the fundamental properties of OAM including its quantum features such as entanglement. We then go on to describe a secure telecommunication system in which information is encoded in OAM, and which can carry more than one bit of information per photon.