Observation of Interaction of Spin and Intrinsic Orbital Angular Momentum of Light

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Feb 24;118(8):083601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.083601. Epub 2017 Feb 21.

Abstract

The interaction of spin and intrinsic orbital angular momentum of light is observed, as evidenced by length-dependent rotations of both spatial patterns and optical polarization in a cylindrically symmetric isotropic optical fiber. Such rotations occur in a straight few-mode fiber when superpositions of two modes with parallel and antiparallel orientation of spin and intrinsic orbital angular momentum (IOAM=2ℏ) are excited, resulting from a degeneracy splitting of the propagation constants of the modes.