光不仅可以携带自旋角动量,还可以携带轨道角动量。其中,自旋角动量与光波的圆偏振态有关,而轨道角动量来源于光波的螺旋相位结构。自Allen等1992年首次理论确认了光子轨道角动量的物理概念和内涵以来,这类具有特殊螺旋相位波前的新型光场吸引了越来越多的研究兴趣,在经典光学及量子光学领域均展示出了诸多重要的应用前景。本文从基础物理及应用物理两个层面出发,着重介绍了轨道角动量光束的制备与探测技术,特别是近年来轨道角动量调控在螺旋相衬成像技术、远程旋转多普勒效应探测技术及光学微操控技术等领域的研究进展。

Light can carry spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum. The spin angular momentum is associated with the circular polarization state of the beam, while the orbital angular momentum is related to the spiral phase of the beam. Since Allen et al. theoretically confirmed the physical concept of the orbital angular momentum of photons in 1992, this novel type of light field with a special spiral phase wavefront has attracted many research interests and found many important applications in both classical and quantum optical realms. This study, from both the fundamental and applied physics, reviews the preparation and detection methods of the orbital angular momentum beam, especially the recent progress in a variety of fields with the orbital angular momentum ranging from spiral-phase contrast imaging and remote sensing of the rotational Doppler effect to optical micromanipulation.