4 ms·

I think this property of light is fairly new I recall reading about twisting light/torque light not that long ago. Searching brings up articles only a few years

• contravariant 6y ago
  Polarized light has been known for ages, I think this is some kind of coherent state that allows those bundles of photons to carry more angular momentum than normal. I think the classical solution also allows for these twisted EM waves, but I'm not 100% sure. Edit: To be precise I think it's something like group velocity but applied to angular momentum, but I'm not an expert.
• raziel2701 6y ago
  No this property of light has been known for ages, it's commonly known as circularly polarized light. There is a bit of fuckery here with trying to coin the term vortex laser to make it more marketable/sexier, but researchers have been playing with circularly polarized light for decades.
  • mturmon 6y ago
    I’m doubtful of this claim. I’m not an expert but I hear about vortex optical components at lunchtime conversation, and from what I understand these effects have only become exploited in the past 20 years or so. I'm open to correction or further context about this. See also the first paragraphs of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_vortex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_vortex, which distinguish between circular polarization from spin angular momentum, vs. orbital angular momentum which is modified by these vortex components.