Fundamental Methods to Measure the Orbital Angular Momentum of Light
Berkhout, G.C.G.
Citation
Berkhout, G. C. G. (2011, September 20). Fundamental Methods to Measure the Orbital Angular Momentum of Light. Casimir PhD Series. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17842
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License: Leiden University Non-exclusive license Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/17842
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Fundamental methods to measure the orbital angular momentum of light
PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van
de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P. F. van der Heijden,
volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op dinsdag 20 september 2011
klokke 13.45 uur
door
Gregorius Cornelis Gerardus Berkhout
geboren te Beverwijk, Nederland in 1983
PROMOTIECOMMISSIE
Promotor: Prof. dr. M. W. Beijersbergen cosine
Universiteit Leiden
Leden: Dr. M. P. van Exter Universiteit Leiden
Prof. dr. G. W. ’t Hooft Philips Research Universiteit Leiden Prof. dr. M. J. Padgett University of Glasgow Prof. dr. J. P. Woerdman Universiteit Leiden Prof. dr. E. R. Eliel Universiteit Leiden
An electronic version of this dissertation is available at the Leiden University Repository (https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl).
ISBN: 978-90-8593-103-4
Casimir PhD series, Delft-Leiden, 2011-14
aan mijn ouders
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Probing the orbital angular momentum of light with a multipoint inter-
ferometer 3
2.1 Introduction . . . 4
2.2 Theory and simulations . . . 5
2.3 Experiment and results. . . 8
2.4 Discussion . . . 9
2.5 Conclusion . . . 11
3 Using a multipoint interferometer to measure the orbital angular mo- mentum of light 13 3.1 Introduction . . . 14
3.2 Characterising interference patterns. . . 18
3.3 General optical vortices . . . 19
3.4 Conclusion . . . 23
4 Measuring optical vortices in a speckle pattern using a multi-pinhole in- terferometer 25 4.1 Introduction . . . 26
4.2 Experiment. . . 27
4.3 Results . . . 28
4.4 Discussion . . . 31
4.5 Conclusion . . . 31
5 Quantitative mapping of the optical vortices in a speckle pattern 33 5.1 Introduction . . . 34
5.2 Theory . . . 35
5.3 Analysis . . . 38
5.4 Experiment. . . 40
5.5 Results . . . 41 v
CONTENTS
5.6 Conclusion . . . 41
6 Efficient sorting of orbital angular momentum states of light 45 6.1 Introduction . . . 46
6.2 Theory . . . 46
6.3 Experiment and results. . . 49
6.4 Discussion . . . 52
6.5 Conclusion . . . 52
7 Measuring orbital angular momentum superpositions of light by mode transformation 55 7.1 Introduction . . . 56
7.2 Theory . . . 57
7.3 Experiment. . . 57
7.4 Results . . . 58
7.5 Discussion . . . 60
7.6 Conclusion . . . 60
8 Towards applications based on measuring the orbital angular momen- tum of light 63 8.1 Introduction . . . 64
8.2 Multi-pinhole interferometer . . . 65
8.3 Mode sorter . . . 72
8.4 Conclusion . . . 76
Bibliography 81
Samenvatting 83
Curriculum Vitae 85
List of publications 87
Nawoord 89
vi
