Abstract
It was discovered that optical vortices twist isotropic and homogenous materials, e.g., azo-polymer films to form spiral structures on a nano- or micro-scale. However, the formation mechanism has not yet been established theoretically. To understand the mechanism of the spiral surface relief formation in the azo-polymer film, we theoretically investigate the optical radiation force induced in an isotropic and homogeneous material under irradiation using a continuous-wave optical vortex with arbitrary topological charge and polarization. It is revealed that the spiral surface relief formation in azo-polymer films requires the irradiation of optical vortices with a positive (negative) spin angular momentum and a positive (negative) orbital angular momentum (constructive spin-orbital angular momentum coupling), i.e., the degeneracy among the optical vortices with the same total angular momentum is resolved.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 051108 |
Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
Volume | 108 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 Feb 1 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)