Second-harmonic generation and the conservation of spatiotemporal orbital angular momentum of light

• Published in: Nature photonics 2021-08, Vol.15 (8), p.608-613
• Main Authors: Gui, Guan, Brooks, Nathan J., Kapteyn, Henry C., Murnane, Margaret M., Liao, Chen-Ting
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/624/1020/1095; 639/766/400/385; Angular momentum; Applied and Technical Physics; Astigmatism; Conservation; Conversion; Electromagnetic fields; Light; Optical frequency; Photonics; Photons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Physics; Scaling; Second harmonic generation; Solid phases; Topology
• ISSN: 1749-4885; 1749-4893
• DOI: 10.1038/s41566-021-00841-8

Light with spatiotemporal orbital angular momentum (ST-OAM) is a recently discovered type of structured and localized electromagnetic field. This field carries characteristic space–time spiral phase structure and transverse intrinsic OAM. Here, we present the generation and characterization of the second harmonic of ST-OAM pulses. We uncover the conservation of transverse OAM in a second-harmonic generation process, where the space–time topological charge of the fundamental field is doubled along with the optical frequency. Our experiment thus suggests a general ST-OAM nonlinear scaling rule, analogous to that in conventional OAM of light. Furthermore, we observe that the topology of a second-harmonic ST-OAM pulse can be modified by complex spatiotemporal astigmatism, giving rise to multiple phase singularities separated in space and time. Our study opens a new route for nonlinear conversion and scaling of light carrying ST-OAM, with the potential for driving other secondary ST-OAM sources of electromagnetic fields and beyond. The second-harmonic spatiotemporal orbital angular momentum of an optical pulse and its space–time topological charge conservation during frequency doubling are experimentally observed, opening opportunities for nonlinear conversion and scaling of photons carrying spatiotemporal orbital angular momentum.