Wave vortices, structured beams, and their interaction with matter: What can we learn from analogies?

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2016-04, Vol.139 (4), p.2039-2040
• Main Author: Volke-Sepulveda, Karen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4950030

One of the many reasons making the study of waves so fascinating is the opportunity it brings to establish links among different areas of physics. In particular, the analogies between optics and acoustics have led to important advances in both directions. Fundamental research on structured wave fields and phase singularities, such as Bessel beams and helical waves, as well as their interaction with matter, is one of the areas that has been benefited greatly from these cooperative advances. Regarding topological studies of scalar wave fields, for instance, sound waves might represent a more versatile alternative than light, since their phase structure can be measured directly with respect to a reference signal. In contrast, the intensity distribution of light can be directly observed, whereas the intensity distribution of an acoustic field has to be determined from measurements of the sound pressure. Therefore, optical and acoustical demonstrations complement and reinforce each other. In this presentation, some specific examples of this productive interchange will be discussed as a starting point, involving the study of acoustic vortices. This will pave the way for introducing some recent results on the analysis of structured light beams, which may find direct translation to the acoustic realm.