Using mirrors, lasers and lenses to bend light into a vortex ring

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

A group of researchers from the University of Dayton and the University of Shanghai have developed a way to bend light into a ring. The group built on work done by other teams in order to design a system that could generate the rings on demand.

A group of researchers discovered in 2016 that a strong pulse of light can sometimes form into a donut-shaped vortex. The researchers with this new effort wondered if it could be possible to make such rings on demand.

The team studied the properties and conditions that led to the formations they observed in 2016 and applied mathematics to the problem. The solutions they found appeared to show how such rings could be made.

A combination of materials was put together by the researchers that would lead to implementation of their math solutions. A standard laser was modified to generate a pulse. Special types of liquid crystal screens were added to make it easier for the pulse to pass through. The parts affected the light in different ways.

The system first changed the light's shape into a long, narrow one, which caused other parts of the light to swirl around. The swirling light formed a ring after it traveled through the system.

The researchers want to know if other shapes can be made. blueprints for others to better understand the formation of toroidal vortices could be provided by them.

More information: Chenhao Wan et al, Toroidal vortices of light, Nature Photonics (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41566-022-01013-y Journal information: Nature Photonics

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