Room-temperature on-chip orbital angular momentum single-photon sources

A room-temperature on-chip orbital angular momentum source that emits well-collimated single photons has been demonstrated.

Orbital angular momentum and beyond in free-space optical communications

Orbital angular momentum (OAM), which describes tailoring the spatial physical dimension of light waves into a helical phase structure, has given rise to many applications in optical manipulation, microscopy, imaging, metrology, sensing, quantum science, and optical communications. Light beams carrying OAM feature two distinct characteristics, i.e., inherent orthogonality and unbounded states in principle, which are suitable for capacity scaling of optical communications. In this paper, we give an overview of OAM and beyond in free-space optical communications. The fundamentals of OAM, concept of optical communications using OAM, OAM modulation (OAM modulation based on spatial light modulator, high-speed OAM modulation, spatial array modulation), OAM multiplexing (spectrally efficient, high capacity, long distance), OAM multicasting (adaptive multicasting, N-dimensional multicasting), OAM communications in turbulence (adaptive optics, digital signal processing, auto-alignment system), structured light communications beyond OAM (Bessel beams, Airy beams, vector beams), diverse and robust communications using OAM and beyond (multiple scenes, turbulence-resilient communications, intelligent communications) are comprehensively reviewed. The prospects and challenges of optical communications using OAM and beyond are also discussed at the end. In the future, there will be more opportunities in exploiting extensive advanced applications from OAM beams to more general structured light.

Transmissive 2-bit anisotropic coding metasurface

Coding metasurfaces have attracted tremendous interests due to unique capabilities of manipulating electromagnetic wave. However, archiving transmissive coding metasurface is still challenging. Here we propose a transmissive anisotropic coding metasurface that enables the independent control of two orthogonal polarizations. The polarization beam splitter and the OAM generator have been studied as typical applications of anisotropic 2-bit coding metasurface. The simulated far field patterns illustrate that the x and y polarized electromagnetic waves are deflected into two different directions, respectively. The anisotropic coding metasurface has been experimentally verified to realize an orbital angular momentum (OAM) beam with l = 2 of right-handed polarized wave, resulting from both contributions from linear-to-circular polarization conversion and the phase profile modulation. This work is beneficial to enrich the polarization manipulation field and develop transmissive coding metasurfaces.

Diffraction grating parameter retrieval using non-paraxial structured beams in coherent Fourier scatterometry

In recent years, a lot of works have been published that use parameter retrieval using Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) beams. Most make use of the OAM of different Laguerre-Gauss modes. However, those specific optical beams are paraxial beams and this limits the regime in which they can be used. In this paper, we report on the first results on retrieving the geometric parameters of a diffraction grating by analysing the corresponding complex-valued (i.e., amplitude and phase) Helmholtz Natural Modes (HNM) spectra containing both the azimuthal (i.e., n) and radial (i.e., m) indices. HNMs are a set of orthogonal, non-paraxial beams with finite energy carrying OAM. We use the coherent Fourier scatterometry (CFS) setup to calculate the field scattered from the diffraction grating. The amplitude and phase contributions of each HNM are then obtained by numerically calculating the overlap integral of the scattered field with the different modes. We show results on the sensitivity of the HNMs to several grating parameters.

Room-temperature generation of heralded single photons on silicon chip with switchable orbital angular momentum

In quantum optics, orbital angular momentum (OAM) is very promising to achieve high-dimensional quantum states due to the nature of infinite and discrete eigenvalues, which is quantized by the topological charge of l. Here, a heralded single-photon source with switchable OAM modes is proposed and demonstrated on silicon chip. At room-temperature, the heralded single photons with 11 OAM modes (l=2~6, -6~-1) have been successfully generated and switched through thermo-optical effect. We believe that such an integrated quantum source with multiple OAM modes and operating at room-temperature would provide a practical platform for high-dimensional quantum information processing. Moreover, our proposed architecture can also be extended to other material systems to further improve the performance of OAM quantum source.

Two Notes on the Theoretical Physics of ATP Synthase

ATP Synthase is an essential molecule in cell and molecular biology. It is responsible for the production of ATP during cellular respiration, a molecule that provides the energy required to drive a number of cellular processes. In this paper, I explore the rotational physics of ATP Synthase’s rotor, a part of the protein that spins during the production of ATP. Firstly, I discuss some elementary rotational kinematics of the rotor. I then derive two alternate formulations for the total linear acceleration of the rotor. Finally, I derive formulas for the moment of inertia, angular momentum, net torque, and kinetic energy of the rotor. Through this, I hope to provide a theoretical and mathematical insight into the mechanics of ATP Synthase during the production of ATP.

Two Notes on the Theoretical Physics of ATP Synthase

ATP Synthase is an essential molecule in cell and molecular biology. It is responsible for the production of ATP during cellular respiration, a molecule that provides the energy required to drive a number of cellular processes. In this paper, I explore the rotational physics of ATP Synthase’s rotor, a part of the protein that spins during the production of ATP. Firstly, I discuss some elementary rotational kinematics of the rotor. I then derive two alternate formulations for the total linear acceleration of the rotor. Finally, I derive formulas for the moment of inertia, angular momentum, net torque, and kinetic energy of the rotor. Through this, I hope to provide a theoretical and mathematical insight into the mechanics of ATP Synthase during the production of ATP.