Optical orbital angular momentum analogy to the Stern–Gerlach experiment
Symmetry breaking has been shown to reveal interesting phenomena in physical systems. A notable example is the fundamental work of Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach [Stern and Zerlach, Z. Physik9, 349 (1922)10.1007/BF01326983] nearly 100 years ago demonstrating a spin angular momentum (SAM) deflection that differed from classical theory. Here we use non-separable states of SAM and orbital angular momentum (OAM), known as vector vortex modes, to demonstrate how a classical optics analogy can be used to reveal this non-separability, reminiscent of the work carried out by Stern and Gerlach. We show that by implementing a polarization insensitive device to measure the OAM, the SAM states can be deflected to spatially resolved positions.
Authors
- Giovanni Milione
- Martin P. J. Lavery (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6419-421X)
- Nathan Brady (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1901-5996)
- Miles J. Padgett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6643-0618)
- Sergei Slussarenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5318-3790)
- Andrew Forbes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2552-5586)
- Thien An Nguyen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6808-2602)
- Angela Dudley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7767-9961)
- R. R. Alfano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3206-5736)
- Bereneice Sephton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1420-8278)
Institutions
- Griffith University (AU)
- City College of New York (US)
- City University of New York (US)
- University of Nebraska at Kearney (US)
- University of Naples Federico II (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Optics Letters
- Published
- 2024-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.534320
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.34
Funders
- Nebraska Space Grant Consortium
- Seventh Framework Programme
- H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology
- Army Research Office