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The orbital angular momentum of light (OAM) is the component of angular momentum of a light beam that is dependent on the field spatial distribution, and not on the polarization. OAM can be split into two types. The internal OAM is an origin-independent angular momentum of a light beam that can be associated with a helical or twisted wavefront.
The total angular momentum of light consists of two components, both of which act in a different way on a massive colloidal particle inserted into the beam. The spin component causes the particle to spin around its axis, while the other component, known as orbital angular momentum (OAM), causes the particle to rotate around the axis of the beam.
The trivial case of the angular momentum of a body in an orbit is given by = where is the mass of the orbiting object, is the orbit's frequency and is the orbit's radius.. The angular momentum of a uniform rigid sphere rotating around its axis, instead, is given by = where is the sphere's mass, is the frequency of rotation and is the sphere's radius.
The classical definition of angular momentum is =.The quantum-mechanical counterparts of these objects share the same relationship: = where r is the quantum position operator, p is the quantum momentum operator, × is cross product, and L is the orbital angular momentum operator.
This spinning carries orbital angular momentum with the wave train, and will induce torque on an electric dipole. Orbital angular momentum is distinct from the more commonly encountered spin angular momentum, which produces circular polarization. [1] Orbital angular momentum of light can be observed in the orbiting motion of trapped particles.
Rotational angular momentum of the Moon: 10 33: 7.07 × 10 33: Rotational angular momentum of the Earth [2] 10 34: 2.871 × 10 34: Orbital angular momentum of the Moon, with respect to the Earth. [3] 10 40: 2.661 × 10 40: Orbital angular momentum of the Earth, with respect to the Sun [2] 10 41: 1.676 × 10 41: Rotational angular momentum of ...
Interferometric methods borrowed from light optics also work to determine the orbital angular momentum of free electrons in pure states. Interference with a planar reference wave, [5] diffractive filtering and self-interference [15] [16] [17] can serve to characterize a prepared electron orbital angular momentum state. In order to measure the ...
"Vector cones" of total angular momentum J (purple), orbital L (blue), and spin S (green). The cones arise due to quantum uncertainty between measuring angular momentum component. Due to the spin–orbit interaction in an atom, the orbital angular momentum no longer commutes with the Hamiltonian, nor does the spin. These therefore change over time.