Generation of Sources of Light with Well Defined Orbital Angular Momentum

Abstract

In this work, a technique to produce spatial electromagnetic modes with definite orbital angular momentum is presented. The method is based in the construction of binary diffractive gratings generated by computer. In the classical regime the gratings produce the well known Laguerre-Gaussian modes distributions when illuminated by a plane wave. In the quantum regime the grating is placed in the signal path of a spontaneous parametric down conversion layout and the diffraction pattern, observed in the coincidence count rate, shows that the single photons are projected onto spatial states consistent with a Laguerre-Gaussian modes distribution.