Physics Colloquium: Orbital and Spin Angular Momentum Light Generation, Interactions, and Applications

Physics Colloquium
Orbital and Spin Angular Momentum Light Generation, Interactions, and Applications

Dr. Sandra Mamani Reyes
Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers
Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering, CUNY

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Abstract Details: A new form of chirality has been introduced in 1992, which is associated with a beam’s wavefront where in addition to the spin angular momentum (SAM), a photon can carry orbital angular momentum (OAM). This type of beam is characterized as a phase vortex and inherits a ‘donut-like’ topology. OAM beams are generated when the light bends forming a helical wavefront defined by a topological charge, which dictates how many intertwined helical phases front the beam has. In addition to this, there is a special group described as cylindrical vector vortex beams, which have inhomogeneous polarization structure. These beams are best known for having a non-separability property in polarization and spatial degrees of freedom with a total angular momentum (SAM + OAM) of J=0. The aim of this presentation is the exploration of two degrees of freedom of light—polarization and spatial degrees of freedom. These exotic light beams are generated, characterized and applied in different optical processes.

Bio: Dr. Sandra Mamani is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers at The City College of New York. She continues to work under the guidance of Distinguished Professor Robert Alfano, her former Ph.D. advisor. Her expertise is in the light-matter application of structured light carrying various polarizations and orbital angular momentum. She also focuses on ultrafast nonlinear light-matter applications with and without OAM beams, such as stimulated Raman scattering, filamentation, supercontinuum, and optical Kerr effect. Dr. Mamani earned a double Bachelor of Science in Physics and Computer Science from Lehman College CUNY in 2016. She has authored/co-authored 13 peer-reviewed journal papers and is a co-inventor of 3 patents.

Intended Audience: All are Welcome!

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