Optical angular momentum in atomic transitions: A paradox

Stephen M. Barnett; Fiona C. Speirits; Mohamed Babiker

doi:10.1088/1751-8121/ac6bd1

Optical angular momentum in atomic transitions: A paradox

Stephen M. Barnett^*, Fiona C. Speirits, Mohamed Babiker

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Stated simply the paradox is as follows: it is clear that the orbital angular momentum of a light beam in its direction of propagation is an intrinsic quantity, and therefore has the same value everywhere in the beam. How then can a Gaussian beam, with precisely zero orbital angular momentum, drive a (single-photon) quadrupole transition which requires the transfer of angular momentum 2 ., to an absorbing atom?.

Original language	English
Article number	234008
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Volume	55
Issue number	23
Early online date	17 May 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac6bd1
Publication status	Published - 10 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Keywords

atomic transitions
optical angular momentum
quadrupole transitions

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Barnett_2022_J._Phys._A__Math._Theor._55_234008
© 2022 The Author(s
Final published version, 1.21 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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KW - quadrupole transitions

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Optical angular momentum in atomic transitions: A paradox

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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