Orbital and spin angular momentum in conical diffraction
Abstract
The angular momentum Jinc of a light beam can be changed by passage through a slab of crystal. When the beam is incident along the optic axis of a biaxial crystal, which may also possess optical activity (chirality), the final angular momentum J can have both orbital (Jorb) and spin (Jsp) contributions, which we calculate paraxially exactly for arbitrary biaxiality and chirality and initially uniformly polarized beams with circular symmetry. For the familiar special case of a non-chiral crystal with fully developed conical-refraction rings, J is purely orbital and equal to Jinc/2, reflecting an interesting singularity structure in the beam. Explicit formulas and numerical computations are presented for a Gaussian incident beam. The change in angular momentum results in a torque on the crystal, along the axis of the incident beam. An additional, much larger, torque, about an axis lying in the slab, arises from the offset of the cone of conical refraction relative to the incident beam.
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Coupling transversely-propagating spinning light to evanescent tails of surface or waveguide modes results in robust spin-controlled unidirectional propagation of those modes.
“(iv) Any surface or waveguide mode possesses evanescent tails. Strikingly, coupling transversely-propagating spinning light to these evanescent tails results in a robust spincontrolled unidirectional propagation of the surface or waveguide modes 45- 52 .”
From Spin–orbit interactions of light (2015) · cites this paper as [47]
Several experiments and numerical simulations demonstrated remarkable spin-controlled unidirectional coupling between circularly-polarized incident light and transversely-propagating surface or waveguide modes.
“Recently, several experiments and numerical simulations demonstrated remarkable spin-controlled unidirectional coupling between circularly-polarized incident light and transversely-propagating surface or waveguide modes 4 5 -5 2,125-1 28 , see Figs. 4b,c.”
From Spin–orbit interactions of light (2015) · cites this paper as [47]
The spin-controlled unidirectional coupling effect is very robust to the details of the system and equally appears with near 100%-efficiency at metal surfaces, nanofibers, and various waveguides.
“Moreover, the effect is very robust to the details of the system and equally appears with near 100%-efficiency at metal surfaces 46,47,49 , nanofibers 48,50,126 , and various waveguides 51,52,125,127,128 .”
From Spin–orbit interactions of light (2015) · cites this paper as [47]
In all systems studied, the incident light propagated along the transverse y-axis carrying usual SAM depending on its helicity: Sy inc ∝ σ.
“Indeed, in all systems 4 5 -5 2,125-1 28 the incident light propagated along the transverse y -axis carrying usual SAM depending on its helicity: S y inc ∝σ .”
From Spin–orbit interactions of light (2015) · cites this paper as [47]
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References 23 · Cited by 115
- Authors
- Berry, M. V., Jeffrey, M. R., & Mansuripur, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2005-10-18
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 685-690
- ISSN
- 1464-4258 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3567
- OpenAlex
- W2048484819
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 1.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Optics A Pure and Applied Optics (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Royal Society
- Imperial College London
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry
- Keywords
- orbital angular momentum, spin angular momentum, conical diffraction, conical refraction, biaxial crystals, optical activity, chirality, angular momentum transport, paraxial approximation, Gaussian beam, circularly polarized light, birefringence
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