Efficient Sorting of Orbital Angular Momentum States of Light
Gregorius C. G. Berkhout(Leiden University), Martin P. J. Lavery(University of Glasgow), Johannes Courtial(University of Glasgow), Marco W. Beijersbergen(Cosine (Netherlands)), Miles J. Padgett(University of Glasgow)
Cited by 1,082Open Access
Abstract
We present a method to efficiently sort orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of light using two static optical elements. The optical elements perform a Cartesian to log-polar coordinate transformation, converting the helically phased light beam corresponding to OAM states into a beam with a transverse phase gradient. A subsequent lens then focuses each input OAM state to a different lateral position. We demonstrate the concept experimentally by using two spatial light modulators to create the desired optical elements, applying it to the separation of eleven OAM states.