Orbital angular momentum microlaser

TLDR

Microlasers that generate helical wavefronts add a degree of freedom for encoding information, potentially boosting data rates in optical communications, though such twisted light is typically produced with bulk optics. The authors show that an integrated microlaser can internally generate twisted light with controllable angular momentum. Miao et al., Science, p.

Abstract

Microlasers with a twist Structured light, in the form of helical wavefronts, provides an additional degree of freedom to encode information for optical communications. Creating light beams with the desired amount of optical angular momentum, or twist, has usually been achieved with bulk optic devices. Miao et al. demonstrate a possible route for an integrated optics approach in which a twisted-light source with a controlled amount of optical angular momentum is generated internally to the designed device structure. These microlasers could find application in telecommunication and information technologies to increase the rate of information transmission. Science , this issue p. 464