Abstract

The non-destructive identification of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) is essential to various applications in the optical information processing. Here, we propose and demonstrate experimentally an efficient method to identify non-destructively the OAM by using a modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Our schemes are applicable not only to the case with integer charges, but also to optical vortices with noninteger charges. Our Letter presents the first experimental demonstration of the non-destructive identification of twisted light with integer or noninteger topological charges, which has potential applications in the OAM-based data transmission for optical communications.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

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