2003•Frontiers in OpticsRequires access
The angular momentum of light: From optical spanners to information transfer
Miles J. Padgett
Open publisher page 0 citations
Abstract
Circularly polarised light carries spin angular momentum. Less obviously, light beams also carry orbital angular momentum associated with helical phasefronts or optical vortices. Sometimes the angular momentum components act equivalently and sometimes they don’t; which types of experiments are which are examined and the consequences discussed.