Description:

Maxwell’s equations admit a rich array of wave-like solutions beyond the well known plane wave and Gaussian beam solutions. Structured laser beams are examples of these solutions, which are distinguished by their phase, amplitude, and polarization profiles. This  talk will introduce the basic concepts used to describe these textures of light beams and show how different families of structured laser beams arise. Relation between different beam families and methods to generate and manipulate them will also be discussed along with the experiments to realize them. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the coupling of phase, amplitude, and polarization textures of light, imposed by Maxwell’s equations. This takes us beyond the transverse plane to light tailored in three dimensions (in space) and beyond that to light with 4-dimensional (space-time) structure.

Yet light’s structure can be infinitely more complex, with many degrees of freedom (DoFs), each with a potential alphabet formed by its corresponding dimension. These forms of so-called structured light1, illustrated in Fig. 1, take us beyond the transverse plane for light tailored in 3D (all three electric field components), beyond space for 4D fields sculptured in space (3D), and time (1D), and beyond classical waves to quantum structured light.

Surendra Singh, Professor, University of Arkansas

Host: Anupam Garg