Orbitalization ellipse of a light beam.

A scalar, harmonic beam-like field possessing an arbitrary number of orbital angular momentum (OAM) components is shown to trace an ellipse, termed here the orbitalization ellipse, at a given transverse cross section and radius, in the space spanned by the spiral OAM basis. The plane and the structure of the ellipse can be readily found by constructing its conjugate semi-diameter vectors from the OAM components.

Pair-OAM properties in scalar light beams.

We reveal the geometric structure existing on segregation of a pair of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states from the total random light beam and introduce new quantities, to the best of our knowledge, for its characterization. In particular, the degree and the ellipse of orbitalization are introduced in analogy with those in the polarization theory. Free-space propagation of these quantities is illustrated by numerical examples.

Random OAM-inducing scatterers.

Weakly fluctuating media with scattering potential correlation functions having cylindrical symmetry and helical correlations are predicted to induce highly controllable distributions of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states to incident light on its far-field forward scattering.

Customizing subwavelength stochastic light fields via structured spatial coherence in a high-NA resonator.

Interaction of light in the high-numerical aperture (high-NA) systems is crucial for theoretical advances and applications such as superresolution imaging and optical nanofabrication. High coherence is demanded at this scale for intensity and spin profile sculpturing, since the underlying physics being wave interference. Here we report that, even for low-coherence light, 3D light features in a nanometer range can be generated by employing structured coherence states of the light beam in a high-NA resonator system.