Abstract

Light with helical phase wavefront carries orbital angular momentum, a unique feature widening the horizon of optical imaging applicability. Here, we take particular interest in the common but important imaging techniques of interferometry, holography and microscopy using orbital angular momentum of light. In contrast to the conventional imaging techniques that rely on the plane-wave or fundamental Gaussian beam, the orbital angular momentum of light introduces a new physical dimension into the play to enrich the applicable imaging mechanism. Indeed, we revisit the milestone achievements that exploit the orbital angular momentum of light as the essential roles of the interference reference, multiplexing channel, spatial-filter, or excitation source. These methods bestow the imaging applications with many new and various benefits.

Ellipticity-encrypted orbital angular momentum multiplexed holography

Pengyu Cheng, Sujuan Huang, and Cheng Yan
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 38(12) 1875-1883 (2021)

Ultra-dense perfect optical orbital angular momentum multiplexed holography

Guoxuan Zhu, Zhiyong Bai, Jiayan Chen, Churou Huang, Luping Wu, Cailing Fu, and Yiping Wang
Opt. Express 29(18) 28452-28460 (2021)

Encrypting orbital angular momentum holography with ghost imaging

Junyao Ma, Zhe Li, Shengmei Zhao, and Le Wang
Opt. Express 31(7) 11717-11728 (2023)

Optical communications using orbital angular momentum beams

A. E. Willner, H. Huang, Y. Yan, Y. Ren, N. Ahmed, G. Xie, C. Bao, L. Li, Y. Cao, Z. Zhao, J. Wang, M. P. J. Lavery, M. Tur, S. Ramachandran, A. F. Molisch, N. Ashrafi, and S. Ashrafi
Adv. Opt. Photon. 7(1) 66-106 (2015)

Angular multiplexation of partial helical phase modes in orbital angular momentum holography

Feili Wang, Xiangchao Zhang, Rui Xiong, Xinyang Ma, and Xiangqian Jiang
Opt. Express 30(7) 11110-11119 (2022)