Observation of the Dynamical Inversion of the Topological Charge of an Optical Vortex
Open Access
- 22 June 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 87 (2) , 023902
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.87.023902
Abstract
We report what is believed to be the first detailed experimental observation of the dynamic inversion of the topological charge of an optical vortex under free-space propagation. The vortex self-transformation occurs through continuous deformation of the noncanonical strength of the corresponding screw wave front dislocation, and is mediated by the occurrence of an extremely sharp turn in a Berry vortex trajectory, which observed at a Freund critical foliation appears as an edge-line dislocation orthogonal to the propagation direction, at a crucial point of the light evolution.Keywords
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