Twisted-Light-Ion Interaction: The Role of Longitudinal Fields

Quinteiro GF, Schmidt-Kaler F, Schmiegelow CT (2017)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Journal

Physical Review Letters American Physical Society

Book Volume: 119

Article Number: 253203

Journal Issue: 25

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.253203

Abstract

The propagation of light beams is well described using the paraxial approximation, where field components along the propagation direction are usually neglected. For strongly inhomogeneous or shaped light fields, however, this approximation may fail, leading to intriguing variations of the light-matter interaction. This is the case of twisted light having opposite orbital and spin angular momenta. We compare experimental data for the excitation of a quadrupole transition in a single trapped Ca+40 ion from Schmiegelow et al. [Nat. Commun. 7, 12998 (2016)NCAOBW2041-172310.1038/ncomms12998] with a complete model where longitudinal components of the electric field are taken into account. Our model matches the experimental data and excludes by 11 standard deviations the approximation of a complete transverse field. This demonstrates the relevance of all field components for the interaction of twisted light with matter.

Involved external institutions

Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) / University of Buenos Aires AR Argentina (AR) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Quinteiro, G.F., Schmidt-Kaler, F., & Schmiegelow, C.T. (2017). Twisted-Light-Ion Interaction: The Role of Longitudinal Fields. Physical Review Letters, 119(25). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.253203

MLA:

Quinteiro, G. F., Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler, and Christian T. Schmiegelow. "Twisted-Light-Ion Interaction: The Role of Longitudinal Fields." Physical Review Letters 119.25 (2017).

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