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Generation of extreme-ultraviolet beams with time-varying orbital angular momentum

Rego, Laura; Dorney, Kevin M.; Brooks, Nathan J.; Nguyen, Quynh L.; Liao, Chen-Ting; San Roman, Julio; Couch, David E.; Liu, Allison; Pisanty, Emilio; Lewenstein, Maciej; Plaja, Luis; Kapteyn, Henry C.; Murnane, Margaret M.; Hernandez-Garcia, Carlos

SCIENCE
2019
VL / 364 - BP / 1253 - EP / +
abstract
Light fields carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) provide powerful capabilities for applications in optical communications, microscopy, quantum optics, and microparticle manipulation. We introduce a property of light beams, manifested as a temporal OAM variation along a pulse: the self-torque of light. Although self-torque is found in diverse physical systems (i.e., electrodynamics and general relativity), it was not realized that light could possess such a property. We demonstrate that extreme-ultraviolet self-torqued beams arise in high-harmonic generation driven by time-delayed pulses with different OAM. We monitor the self-torque of extreme-ultraviolet beams through their azimuthal frequency chirp. This class of dynamic-OAM beams provides the ability for controlling magnetic, topological, and quantum excitations and for manipulating molecules and nanostructures on their natural time and length scales.

AccesS level

Green submitted, Green accepted

MENTIONS DATA