Monthly newsletter from the editors of Photonics Spectra, with features, popular topics, new products, and what's coming in the next issue.
Supertwisted Light from a Metasurface Laser
Structured light refers to the tailoring or shaping of light in all its degrees of freedom. The recent development of structured light supports applications such as optical communications, enhanced resolution in imaging, and optical trapping and tweezing. Chiral light is foremost among the family of structured light fields that carries spin angular momentum (±ℏ per photon, depending on the handedness) and orbital angular momentum.
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The Laser Turns 60
Six decades ago, in a windowless lab on a hilltop above the Pacific Ocean, Theodore (Ted) Maiman — assisted by Irnee D’Haenens — tested a palm-size device that would upend the scientific establishment. Working at Hughes Research Lab (now HRL Laboratories and formerly the research arm of Hughes Aircraft Co.) in Malibu, Calif., Maiman had built the prototype in less than nine months with a paltry budget of $50,000. It was a fraction of what his competitors working on well-funded projects worldwide at powerhouse facilities had to accomplish the same task, which was to build the world’s first laser.
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