Chirality and the angular momentum of light
نویسندگان
چکیده
Chirality is exhibited by objects that cannot be rotated into their mirror images. It is far from obvious that this has anything to do with the angular momentum of light, which owes its existence to rotational symmetries. There is nevertheless a subtle connection between chirality and the angular momentum of light. We demonstrate this connection and, in particular, its significance in the context of chiral light-matter interactions.This article is part of the themed issue 'Optical orbital angular momentum'.
منابع مشابه
Resolving enantiomers using the optical angular momentum of twisted light
Circular dichroism and optical rotation are crucial for the characterization of chiral molecules and are of importance to the study of pharmaceutical drugs, proteins, DNA, and many others. These techniques are based on the different interactions of enantiomers with circularly polarized components of plane wave light that carries spin angular momentum (SAM). For light carrying orbital angular mo...
متن کاملOrbital 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 in...
متن کاملStudy on Generation of Higher Order Orbital Angular Momentum Modes and Parameters Affecting the Vortex
In this manuscript, higher-order Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) modes and parameters affecting vortex in the radiation pattern have been studied. A uniform circular array resonating at 10 GHz frequency is formed using eight identical rectangular patch antennas. Three uniform circular arrays are analyzed, simulated, and fabricated for OAM modes 0, +1, and -1 respectively. The higher-order OAM mo...
متن کاملMagnetoelectric effects in local light-matter interactions.
We study the generic dipole interaction of a monochromatic free-space electromagnetic field with a bi-isotropic nanoparticle or a molecule. Contributions associated with the breaking of dual, P, and T symmetries are responsible for electric-magnetic asymmetry, chirality, and the nonreciprocal magnetoelectric effect, respectively. We calculate absorption rates, radiation forces, and radiation to...
متن کاملCharacterizing optical chirality
We examine the recently introduced measure of chirality of a monochromatic optical field [Y. Tang and A. E. Cohen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 163901 (2010)] using the momentum (plane-wave) representation and helicity basis. Our analysis clarifies the physical meaning of the measure of chirality and unveils its close relation to the polarization helicity, spin angular momentum, energy density, and Po...
متن کامل