A novel approach produces a completely new kind of dynamic light structure
Monday, August 24, 2020 - 11:41
in Physics & Chemistry
It is not every day that scientists are able to produce an entirely new kind of light, but when they do the implications can be dramatic. When twisted light beams carrying orbital angular momentum were uncovered in 1992, researchers realized the potential to increase data transmission speeds over current approaches. Separately, in 2005, the Nobel prize in physics was awarded for the invention of the optical frequency comb—a device that creates a spectrum of equally spaced frequencies of non-twisted light. Such combs have become fundamental tools for metrology and atomic clocks.