Singular Optics Map

People and Groups

Michael Berry  University of Bristol
John Nye  University of Bristol
Mark Dennis  University of Bristol
Miles Padgett  University of Glasgow
Grover Swartzlander  Rochester Institute of Technology
Kiko Galvez  Colgate University
Han Woerdman  Quantum Optics Group at Leiden University
Giovanni Milione  Institute for Ultrafast Lasers and Spectroscopy at the City College of New York
Jan Masajada  Wroclaw University of Technology
Kishan Dholakia  Optical Manipulation Group at the University of Saint Andrews
Taco D. Visser  Delft University of Technology
Greg Gbur  University of North Carolina at Charlotte
David McGloin  University of Dundee
Konstantin Bliokh  National University of Ireland
Constantine N. Alexeyev  Taurida National V.I. Vernadsky University
Jeffrey Davis  Electro-Optics Program at San Diego State University
Liubov Kreminska  University of Nebraska at Kearney
Marco Beijersbergen  Cosine Measurement Systems
University of St Andrews Optical Trapping Group

Topics

Theory

Limits of the paraxial approximation in laser beams (2007) by Pablo Vaveliuk, Beatriz Ruiz, and Alberto Lencina

Apparatus and Methods
Metrology
Orbital Angular Momentum

Refractive elements for the measurement of the orbital angular momentum of a single photon (2012) by Martin P. J. Lavery, David J. Robertson, Gregorius C. G. Berkhout, Gordon D. Love, Miles J. Padgett, and Johannes Courtial

Optical Forces, Tweezers, Manipulation
Polarization States
Photonics
Topology
Coherence
Entanglement, Quantum Computing

Resources

Tutorial and review articles

Linear Optical Vortices (1999) by Masud Mansuripur and Ewan M. Wright
    Start here for a basic explanation of optical vortices.

An experiment to observe the intensity and phase structure of Laguerre–Gaussian laser modes (1995) by M. Padgett, J. Arlt, N. Simpson, and L. Allen
    This paper explains how to construct a mode converter to produce LG mode beams from combinations of HG mode beams. It's written for undergraduates.

A low-cost spatial light modulator for use in undergraduate and graduate optics labs (2011) by Derek Huang, Henry Timmers, Adam Roberts, Niranjan Shivaram, and Arvinder S. Sandhu
    This paper details a more complicated method of producing not only LG modes, but Bessel modes, computer generated holograms, and Fresnel plates. The authors took the LCD unit from inside on old projector and passed an expanded polarized beam through it, with each pixel able to rotate the polarity of light passing through it at different voltages. They could program the 1024*768 pixels to generate a beam of a desired phase, at a low cost.

Conference proceedings

- SPIE: Photonics West. Complex Light and Optical Forces (5 years)

Books and Compilations

Journal of Optics special issue on orbital angular momentum (2011)
    Includes a paper by Hannarae Annie Nam of the LTC on creating LG beams from HG modes with a single cylinder lens.

Optical Angular Momentum (2003) by L Allen, Stephen M Barnett, and Miles J Padgett

Progress in Optics Volume 39 (1999) editor Emil Wolf; page 291 The Orbital Angular Momentum of Light by L. Allen, M. Padgett, and M. Babiker

- Optical Vortices book. Vasnetsov & Staliunis eds.
- Padgett
book - Optical angular momentum? - Twisted Light book - J. Opt.
Special Issue 2011

Previous LTC Optical Vortex Projects

Laser Mode Conversion
Hannarae Annie Nam (2010)
Josh Lieber (2009)
Hamsa Sridhar (2008)
Victor Wang (2006)
Alex Ellis (2002)
Owen Smith (2002)
Patrick Nürnberger (2002)

Orbital Angular Momentum, Topological Number
Bryce Gadway (2008)
Giovanni Milione (2007)
Danny Minkin (2007)
Yaagnik Kosuri (2004)

Diffraction of Vortices
David Meltzer (2011)

Birefringent Wave Plate
Jacob Chamoun (2010)

Spiral Phase Plate
Nityan Nair (2008)
Simone Agha (2007)
Amol Jain (2005)
Greg Caravelli (2005)
Ulrike Endesfelder (2005)

Fork Diffraction Grating
Azure Hansen (2004-2007)

Optical Tweezers
Yiwei Li (2008)
Karen Cydylo (2006)
Yiyi Deng (2004)

Visual Representations
Heather Hill (2010)

soon to be organized
Thomas Videbaek (2009)

Singular Optics in the News

Researchers twist light, not wires, generate terabit data speeds (June 2012)