A Method to Design Arbitrary-Way Multimodal OAM Generator

Generation of vortex beam carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) is a popular field of research in recent years. Based on the theory of complex transformation optics, a standing-wave current distribution along the circumference of a conventional circular patch is transformed into a uniform traveling current distribution instead, thus leading to the generation of vortex beams. Compared to the other designs of generating vortex beams, our design takes a patch antenna as a single radiator, thus, it has incomparable advantage in the compact structure.

This paper proposed a method based on transformation optics, implicit function, and level set methods to solve the challenge of multi-physics simulation of a microwave heating cavity with two different motion modes. A 3D computation model with a rotating turntable, a lifting support rod, and a sample is proposed as a detailed demonstration. Based on the theory of transformation optics, the rotating turntable is surrounded by two circles with a time-varying, inhomogeneous and anisotropy medium, and the electric field in the moving region is rotated by controlling the two mediums. The implicit function and level set methods compute the lifting motion by setting the properties of the lifting region as a function of space and time. The correctness of the proposed method is verified by comparing the proposed method’s results with the discrete position’s results, and then its accuracy is further verified by experiment. Subsequently, compared with the implicit function and level set methods only, the proposed method is more accurate. Finally, the effects of lifting motion, rotating motion and lifting motion (i.e., spiral motion) on microwave heating uniformity and heating efficiency were analyzed, respectively.

Optical vortices are a new kind of laser beam and receiving more and more attention currently.The complex amplitudes of optical vortices comprise a helical term exp (il),with l being the topological charge and the azimuthal angle.Each photon in optical vortices carries the orbital angular momentum (OAM) with a value of lħ,where ħ is the Planck's constant divided by 2.The topological charge l is the eigenvalue of optical vortices,and determines the helical wavefront distribution,thus also known as OAM state.Moreover,such an OAM state can be an infinite integer state. And vortices with various OAM states are orthogonal to each other,making it possible to be employed in high capacity data-transmission system.In addition,the above unique features contribute to their widely applications in lots of areas such as optical tweezers and spanners,rotation detection,quantum entanglement,etc.In these applications,detecting OAM states is basic,and greatly significant.Recently researchers have developed lots of approaches to detecting the OAM states,including the methods of interference,diffraction gratings,metasurface,etc.Of such approaches,the scheme of diffraction gratings is the simplest and most widely used,where one or more diffraction gratings are employed. When optical vortices propagate through such gratings,the OAM states are acquired immediately through capturing and analyzing the distinct OAM-related diffraction patterns.In this review,we focus on the techniques of detecting OAM states through diffraction gratings,which have been demonstrated by our group and other researchers.Some of the main detection gratings,including double-slit,triangle aperture and slit,angular slit,cylindrical lens,graduallychanging-period grating,annular grating,are introduced.In addition,schemes like composite fork grating,Dammann vortex grating and integrated Dammann grating,are presented to detect the OAM state for coaxial multiplexed vortices. Besides diagnosing OAM state,measuring the intensity proportion of each OAM channel,known as OAM spectrum, in multiplexed vortices is also necessary in some cases.Therefore we also introduce the ways to measure the OAM spectrum,e.g.the OAM mode sorter,the gray-scale algorithm.

In this letter, the substrate of a microstrip antenna is chosen as the transformation medium. Using complex transformation optics, a standing-wave current distribution along the circumference of a circular patch is transformed into a uniform traveling current distribution instead, thus generating perfectly circularly polarized waves. This letter provides a novel way of designing the microstrip antenna whereby the traditional substrate is replaced by the transformation medium whose parameters can be readily derived from the theory of transformation optics. Furthermore, introducing complex transformation optics into antenna design is a new attempt. In terms of its flexibility of controlling the amplitude distribution of electromagnetic fields, it offers extra freedom of manipulating the radiation pattern of an antenna.

Light orbital angular momentum (OAM) has been recognized as a new promising resource for classical and quantum information applications. In contrast to the spin angular momentum, the OAM is an inherently multidimensional. Thus, the information can be encoded in the higher-dimensional OAM alphabets. Recently, Marrucci et al. have invented a new device named q-plate (QP), made of liquid crystal cell patterned in such a way to introduce a topological charge q at the transverse plane, which is able to generate a well-defined values of photon OAM. My research has been aimed at investigating the physics of the QP, of the optical fields that it generates and of its possible applications for optical communication and quantum information. We studied both theoretically and experimentally a novel set of non-orthogonal but over-complete paraxial modes, named Hypergeometric-Gaussian modes, that is typically associated with OAM-carrying optical fields. We have also found the light propagation kernel inside the QP and we have shown analytically that if small losses due to reflection, absorption, and scattering are neglected, the QP can convert the photon spin into OAM with up to 100 \% efficiency. We implemented a technique to control the QP optical retardation by tuning the QP temperature. At the optimal temperature, the QP can generate a beam with up to 97\% efficiency. Moreover, the OAM state generated by QP can be rotated easily in the 2D OAM Hilbert space by proper manipulation of the input polarization state, a fact which opens a new way of beam shape controlling in MHz scale. We also performed a novel way to encode and read two bits information on the 4D OAM space by using only one QP. Finally, we experimentally demonstrated the transfer of quantum information from spin to OAM and vice versa, including the case of bi-photon states having quantum correlations. Furthermore, by exploiting these quantum information transfer devices, we demonstrated the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect and the optimal quantum cloning with OAM-carrying photons.

Optical beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) play an important role in micro-/nanoparticle manipulation and information multiplexing in optical communications. Conventional OAM generation setups require bulky optical elements and are unsuitable for on-chip integration. OAM generators based on metasurfaces can achieve ultracompact designs. However, they generally have limited working bandwidth and require complex designs and multistep time-consuming fabrication processes. In comparison, graphene metalenses based on the diffraction principle have simple designs and can be fabricated by laser nanoprinting in a single step. Here, we demonstrate that a single ultrathin (200 nm) graphene OAM metalens can integrate OAM generation and high-resolution focusing functions in a broad bandwidth, covering the entire visible wavelength region. Broadband graphene OAM metalenses with flexibly controlled topological charges are analytically designed using the detour phase method considering the dispersionless feature of the graphene material and fabricated using ultrafast laser nanoprinting. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions, which demonstrate the accuracy of the design method. The broadband graphene OAM metalenses can find broad applications in miniaturized and integrated photonic devices enabled by OAM beams.

Twisted light with orbital angular momentum (OAM) has been extensively studied for applications in quantum and classical communications, microscopy, and optical micromanipulation. Ejecting high angular momentum states of a whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonator through a grating-assisted mechanism provides a scalable, chip-integrated solution for OAM generation. However, demonstrated OAM microresonators have exhibited a much lower quality factor (Q) than conventional WGM resonators (by >100×), and an understanding of the limits on Q has been lacking. This is crucial given the importance of Q in enhancing light-matter interactions. Moreover, though high-OAM states are often desirable, the limits on what is achievable in a microresonator are not well understood. Here, we provide insight on these two questions, through understanding OAM from the perspective of mode coupling in a photonic crystal ring and linking it to coherent backscattering between counter-propagating WGMs. In addition to demonstrating high-Q (105 to 106), a high estimated upper bound on OAM ejection efficiency (up to 90%), and high-OAM number (up to l = 60), our empirical model is supported by experiments and provides a quantitative explanation for the behavior of Q and the upper bound of OAM ejection efficiency with l. The state-of-the-art performance and understanding of microresonator OAM generation opens opportunities for OAM applications using chip-integrated technologies.

The Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) carried by light beams with helical phasefront (vortex beams) has been widely employed in many applications such as optical tweezers, optical drives of micro-machines, atom trapping, and optical communication. OAM provides an additional dimension (diversity) to multiplexing techniques, which can be utilized in addition to conventional multiplexing methods to achieve higher data rates in wireless communication. OAM beams have been thoroughly studied and used in the optical regime but in the mm-wave and THz-wave region, they are still under investigation. In these frequency bands, there are difficulties associated with beam-splitting and beam-combining processes as well as with the use of spiral phase plates and other methods for OAM generation, since the wavelength is much larger compared to those at optical frequencies, leading to higher diffraction losses. The present paper describes the natural generation of high-power OAM modes by gyro-type vacuum electron devices with cylindrical interaction circuit and axial output of the generated rotating higher-order transverse electric mode TEm,n, where m > 1 and n are the azimuthal and radial mode index, respectively. The ratio between the total angular momentum (TAM) JN and total energy WN of N photons is given by m/ω, where ω is the angular frequency of the operating mode, which in a gyrotron oscillator is close to the TEm,n-mode cutoff frequency in the cavity. Therefore, m/ω = Rc/c, where Rc is the caustic radius and c the velocity of light in vacuum. This means that the OAM is proportional to the caustic radius and at a given frequency the same for all modes with the same azimuthal index m. Right-hand rotation (co-rotation with the electrons) corresponds to a positive value of m and left-hand rotation to negative m. The corresponding OAM mode number (topological charge) is l = m – 1. Circularly polarized TE1n modes only possess a Spin Angular Momentum (SAM: s = ±1). TE0n modes have neither SAM nor OAM. This is the result of the photonic (quasi-optical) approach to derive the TAM of modes generated in gyrotrons. The same result follows from the electromagnetic (EM) wave approach for the TAM within a given waveguide volume per total energy of the EM wave in the same volume. Such high-power output beams with very pure higher-order OAM, generated by gyrotron oscillators or amplifiers (broadband) could be used for multiplexing in long-range wireless communications. The corresponding mode and helical wavefront sensitive detectors for selective OAM-mode sorting are available and described in the present paper.

We report on the observation of the electromagnetic focusing effect of zero orbital angular momentum (OAM) after introducing the multi-grade OAM concept. It performs the same feature in the central area around the focal point, while the typical Airy disk is transformed into a vortical cloud pattern beside the central area. Quantized focusing phenomena are exhibited based on the periodicity of the OAM. These results were verified by simulation and experiments. Our method achieves an optical focusing theory through OAM manipulation, which can be applied in imaging, photoetching, and communication. Furthermore, it also provides an opportunity for energy harvesting from natural OAM materials.

Natural in-plane hyperbolic crystals (such as α-MoO3) and natural monoclinic crystals (such as β-Ga2O3) have recently drawn great research focus. Despite their obvious similarities, however, these two kinds of materials are usually studied as separate topics. In this Letter, we explore the intrinsic relationship between materials like α-MoO3 and β-Ga2O3 under the framework of transformation optics, providing another perspective to understand the asymmetry of hyperbolic shear polaritons. It is worth mentioning that we demonstrate this novel, to the best of our knowledge, method from theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, which maintain a high degree of consistency. Our work not only combines natural hyperbolic materials with the theory of classical transformation optics, but also opens new avenues for future studies of various natural materials.

A pivotal issue of the conventional optical fiber communications networks is to meet the explosively increasing requirement in data traffic. In order to meet this ever-increasing demand, there have been a lot of research and industrial development efforts to utilize the photon in various dimensions such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), space division multiplexing (SDM), mode division multiplexing (MDM) and so on. Fueled by emerging bandwidth-hungry applications, orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes and their multiplexing have recently gained much attention due to its special doughnut-shaped intensity distribution, as well as its unique helical phase wavefront with the theoretically infinite topological value. The OAM modes with different topological charge values are orthogonal to each other, which has provided a new degree of freedom in MDM. In this paper, we propose and design a Ge-doped air-core ring fiber, which can support numerous OAM modes. By varying the mole fraction of GeO2 and adjusting the structure parameter, including the air-core radius and the GeO2-doped ring width, we study the influence of the different fiber parameters on the total supported OAM mode number. The hollow silica fiber with a 50-μm air core and a 1.5-μm thickness of Gedoped ring is designed in simulation to support fiber eigenmodes up to HE112,1 and EH107,1. This provides 436 OAM modes at 1550 nm while maintaining radially single mode condition. Moreover, it can support more than 400 OAM modes from 1260 nm to 1625 nm, covering O, E, S, C, and L bands.

We show both theoretically and numerically that if an optical vortex beam has a symmetric or almost symmetric angular harmonics spectrum [orbital angular momentum (OAM) spectrum], then the order of the central harmonic in the OAM spectrum equals the normalized-to-power OAM of the beam. This means that an optical vortex beam with a symmetric OAM spectrum has the same topological charge and the normalized-to-power OAM has an optical vortex with only one central angular harmonic. For light fields with a symmetric OAM spectrum, we give a general expression in the form of a series. We also study two examples of form-invariant (structurally stable) vortex beams with their topological charges being infinite, while the normalized-to-power OAM is approximately equal to the topological charge of the central angular harmonic, contributing the most to the OAM of the entire beam.

In this paper, we demonstrate that the solid cylinder dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) is a high radiation efficient device to generate orbital angular momentum (OAM) waves with different OAM modes at different frequencies. Theoretical formulations of its radiation fields are deduced in the cylindrical coordinate system, which shows that all components of the electric and magnetic fields have the azimuth dependence of e jmφ . A full-wave simulation on a practical size CDRA is then implemented to validate the theoretical derivations. The simulation results show that different separated OAM modes can be obtained at different frequencies. Specifically, the higher order OAM modes are generated at higher electron magnetic modes, which makes CDRA a promising method to overcome the narrow band and multiband issues existing in the design of current OAM devices. Furthermore, a maximum radiation efficiency of 97.1% at 13.3 GHz, and a minimum radiation efficiency of 72.4% at 19.45 GHz are obtained in our simulation, which is a high radiation efficiency feature at the OAM resonant frequencies.

We generalize the concept of perfect optical vortices, studying the elliptic perfect optical vortices (EPOVs), which also have diameters independent of the topological charge. A phase-only diffractive optical element is proposed for the efficient generation of such EPOV. The intensity of the EPOV generated by this element is higher than that of the EPOV generated approximately by an elliptical axicon. We obtain exact analytical expressions for the orbital angular momentum (OAM) density and for the total OAM of the EPOV. These expressions show that the normalized OAM of the EPOV is fractional and it exceeds the OAM of the conventional circular perfect optical vortex, which equals the topological charge. It allows continuous controlling of the OAM by changing the ellipticity. We show analytically that the OAM density is maximal on the smaller side of the EPOV. The ratio of the maximal to the minimal OAM density equals the squared ratio of the ellipse dimensions. Using the proposed element, EPOVs that carry different topological charges are generated experimentally with the aid of a spatial light modulator. We experimentally confirm the independence of their size from the topological charge, which is determined interferometrically. Such EPOVs can be used for moving microscopic particles along an ellipse with acceleration, as well as for the generation of OAM-entangled photons.

Optical fiber communication is known as the backbone of communication today for voice, video, and data transmission. Recent advancements in optical technologies are leading us to many new forms of generation of orbital angular momentum (OAM) waves and its transmission technologies. Among them are hypergeometric waveform (HG), Bessel’s waveforms, Laguerre Gaussian waveforms, and other forms of OAMs. This mode of communication is by the twisted form of electromagnetic wave which can accommodate a larger number of channels making communication simpler for wired and wireless communication. In this paper, various methods of OAM waveform generation are presented and are compared in details discussing the various needs in communication. OAM multiplexing is done by spatial division multiplexing (SDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Methods of OAM communication, generation techniques, power analysis, and bit error analysis prove efficient transmission capability of OAM waves using low power consumption and low bit error rate in optical communication networks. OAM from fiber can be directly communicated to atmosphere which is found very useful for short distance wireless communication. Experimental validation is discussed for HG, Bessel’s waveforms, and LG waveforms. Pure Optical Vertices (OV) are generated by VCSELs (vertical cavity surface emitting lasers) and transmitted by (MMF) multimode fibers. Various atmospheric effects and challenges are also elaborated in this paper. RSoft OptSim software is used for simulation.