Illustrations of optical vortices in three dimensions
Illustrations of optical vortices in three dimensions
Optical vortices (phase singularities) arise from interference and are threads of darkness embedded within light fields. Although usually visualised in terms of their points of intersection with an observation plane, appreciation of their true form requires a view in three dimensions. Through numerical simulation we re-examine three situations where optical vortex lines evolve as an additional parameter is varied. Our specific examples are: the addition of a fourth plane wave of varying amplitude into a superposition of three plane waves, the increase of height of a non-integer spiral phase step, and finally the perturbation that creates, and then dissolves, a vortex link in a specific combination of Laguerre-Gauss modes.
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O'Holleran, K.
a9584d49-d8d0-44a4-a24e-9ac88cb34853
Dennis, M.R.
ff55cf66-eb8b-4eb9-83eb-230c2f223d61
Padgett, M.J.
124799da-d531-4d0c-ab20-1b9b2ea9fa6c
2006
O'Holleran, K.
a9584d49-d8d0-44a4-a24e-9ac88cb34853
Dennis, M.R.
ff55cf66-eb8b-4eb9-83eb-230c2f223d61
Padgett, M.J.
124799da-d531-4d0c-ab20-1b9b2ea9fa6c
O'Holleran, K., Dennis, M.R. and Padgett, M.J.
(2006)
Illustrations of optical vortices in three dimensions.
Journal of the European Optical Society: Rapid Publications, 1 (6008), .
(doi:10.2971/jeos.2006.06008]).
Abstract
Optical vortices (phase singularities) arise from interference and are threads of darkness embedded within light fields. Although usually visualised in terms of their points of intersection with an observation plane, appreciation of their true form requires a view in three dimensions. Through numerical simulation we re-examine three situations where optical vortex lines evolve as an additional parameter is varied. Our specific examples are: the addition of a fourth plane wave of varying amplitude into a superposition of three plane waves, the increase of height of a non-integer spiral phase step, and finally the perturbation that creates, and then dissolves, a vortex link in a specific combination of Laguerre-Gauss modes.
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Published date: 2006
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Local EPrints ID: 42890
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/42890
ISSN: 1990-2573
PURE UUID: a0eac73e-6036-4744-826b-f0ebb3dc9d75
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Date deposited: 03 Apr 2007
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 08:51
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Author:
K. O'Holleran
Author:
M.R. Dennis
Author:
M.J. Padgett
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