Schematic diagrams and field intensity plots for generating Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM)

The following illustrates schematic diagrams and field intensity plots used for generating Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM). In these visualizations, we observe a light beam being focused through a specially designed lens whose shape is engineered to impart OAM during the focusing process. This technique leverages the helical properties of light by manipulating the beam's phase structure, enabling control over the light's rotational direction and velocity to produce OAM effects. From an implementation perspective, this typically involves generating phase masks using mathematical functions like exp(i*l*θ), where l represents the topological charge and θ is the azimuthal angle. The field intensity patterns can be computed using Fourier optics simulations or experimentally measured with interferometric techniques. This technology finds extensive applications in optical communications (for mode division multiplexing), quantum computing (for qubit manipulation), and advanced imaging systems (for super-resolution microscopy).