What is it about?
Very short light pulses with duration 10 fs to 10 ps (corresponding longitudinal size 10 – 10000 wavelengths, or, in the visible range, from few micrometers to few millimeters), which are characterized by a well-developed spatial and spectral inhomogeneity, are called "spatio-temporal" (ST) light fields (wave packets, light bullets). Especially interesting exmples are the ST fields whith the toroidal intensity distribution and the energy circulation in the plane of propagation (ST optical vortices, STOV) accopanied by the transverse orbital angular momentum (OAM). Recently, such fields become the subject of intense investigation, and this review presents their main properties and principles of their mathematical description.
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Why is it important?
The presentation may be useful as initial introduction to the STOV-associated ideas and a short exposition of their extraordinary properties. It may be useful in view of wide prospects for possible applications of the STOVs in optical manipulations, free-space optical communications, for studying optical properties of the molecular chirality, for excitation and investigation of the light-matter interactions, etc.
Perspectives
The impressive features of STOVs have attracted my attention, and I tried to understand their nature, without initially setting a clear research goal. The article has appeared as a sort of “auto-tutorial” where the main properties of STOVs as well as principles of their mathematical description and analysis are presented in the form that seems the most appropriate for my comprehension. Initially, this was a collection of relevant formulas and figures for my personal use, selected and interpreted at my own gust. But further, in the course of communications with colleagues, I felt that it may be interesting for other researchers or inquisitive persons, which, like me, look for the consistent, but free of secondary technical details, introduction to the STOV problems.
Aleksandr Bekshaev
Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Spatiotemporal optical vortices: Principles of description and basic properties, APL Photonics, November 2024, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0233758.
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