All light has structure, but only recently has it been possible to control it in all its degrees of
freedom and dimensions, fuelling fundamental advances and applications alike. Here we …

BACKGROUND Optical vortices provide one of the promising solutions for enhancing the
capacity of data multiplexing to meet an unprecedented growth in big data and internet traffic …

Thirty years ago, Coullet et al. proposed that a special optical field exists in laser cavities
bearing some analogy with the superfluid vortex. Since then, optical vortices have been …

The interest in tailoring light in all its degrees of freedom is steadily gaining traction, driven
by the tremendous developments in the toolkit for the creation, control and detection of what …

Surface plasmons (SPs) are electromagnetic surface waves that propagate at the interface
between a conductor and a dielectric. Due to their unique ability to concentrate light on two …

The ability to control the instantaneous state of light, from high-energy pulses down to the
single-photon level, is an indispensable requirement in photonics. This has, for example …

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is an important feature of structured
electromagnetic fields exhibiting non-uniform spatial distribution. In contrast to a spin …

In recent years, vortex beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have attracted more
and more attention. The wavefront of the OAM beams is helical, the intensity at the center of …

Since their first introduction in 2006, q-plates have found a constantly increasing number of
uses in diverse contexts, ranging from fundamental research on complex structured light …

Optical interactions are governed by both spin and angular momentum conservation laws,
which serve as a tool for controlling light–matter interactions or elucidating electron …