Classical and Quantum Dynamics of Twisted Light

Abstract

This thesis encompasses a body of experimental work on the dynamics of twisted light. We first deal with the generation and reconstruction of twisted light for applications in classical and quantum physics, respectively. In the first case, we present a novel device that has the ability to generate twisted light in a manner that is completely wavelength-independent. Such a device may find applications in various fields of classical physics, ranging from nano to astronomical imaging. In the second work, we study the dynamics of twisted light in the case of laser-induced radial birefringence. This is done by studying the optical features resulting from elastic properties of silver-doped glass. In the last work on generation of twisted light, we present a nano-scale twisted light generator having the capacity to generate an optical mode with a controllable number of twists. In the context of quantum communication and quantum computations, this device has a great potential due to its small size and integrability. In the second part of the thesis, we study the propagation of twisted light both at the classical and quantum regime. In the first case, we observe exotic group velocities of light pulses in vacuum due to the twisting of its wavefront. In the second case, we study the effect of quantum decoherence of twisted light due to the coupling of photonic internal degrees of freedom. We present a technique to recover the lost coherence, which we name recoherence, by a practical unitary transformation.