Rapid readout of terahertz orbital angular momentum beams using atom-based imaging

Downes, Lucy A.; Whiting, Daniel J.; Adams, C. Stuart; Weatherill, Kevin J.

Abstract

We demonstrate the rapid readout of terahertz orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams using an atomic-vapor-based imaging technique. OAM modes with both azimuthal and radial indices are created using phase-only transmission plates. The beams undergo terahertz-to-optical conversion in an atomic vapor, before being imaged in the far field using an optical CCD camera. In addition to the spatial intensity profile, we also observe the self-interferogram of the beams by imaging through a tilted lens, allowing the sign and magnitude of the azimuthal index to be read out directly. Using this technique, we can reliably read out the OAM mode of low-intensity beams with high fidelity in 10 ms. Such a demonstration is expected to have far-reaching consequences for proposed applications of terahertz OAM beams in communications and microscopy.

Citation

Downes, L. A., Whiting, D. J., Adams, C. S., & Weatherill, K. J. (2022). Rapid readout of terahertz orbital angular momentum beams using atom-based imaging. Optics Letters, 47(22), 6001-6004. https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.476945

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 24, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 11, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 15, 2022
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2022
• Journal: Optics Letters
• Print ISSN: 0146-9592
• Electronic ISSN: 1539-4794
• Publisher: Optica
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 22
• Pages: 6001-6004
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.476945
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1186549
• Related Public URLs: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37219157/