Talks.cam will close on 1 July 2026, further information is available on the UIS Help Site
 

University of Cambridge > Talks.cam > Theory of Condensed Matter > Topological design of light beams: vortices, knots, textures & beyond

  Browse A-Z

Log in

Cambridge users (raven)details Other usersdetails No account?details

Information on

Subscribing to talksdetails Finding a talkdetails Adding a talkdetails Disseminating talksdetails Help and Documentationdetails

Topological design of light beams: vortices, knots, textures & beyond

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Bo Peng.

A rich variety of knot-like topological structures can be realized in laboratory light beams such as lasers. The simplest description of propagating light is a map from three-dimensional space to the complex numbers, where optical vortices (phase singularities, nodal lines) are circulations of the Poynting vector energy flow.

A variety of knotted and linked vortex filaments can be embedded in propagating beams shaped by computer-controlled holograms, embedding designs inspired by algebraic geometry, such as Milnor maps. Furthermore, a huge variety of knots and links occur in random waves modelling wave chaos or optical speckle. This echoes Lord Kelvin’s vision of the periodic table of atoms as knotted vortices in the ether.

Controlling polarization adds a further layer of topology, creating three-dimensional polarization textures with spatially structured phase and polarization. Topological particle-like skyrmionic beams realise the Hopf fibration by wrapping around the optical hypersphere parametrizing the full optical state.

Moving beyond the scalar and paraxial regime, structured nonparaxial vector beams reveal various rich mathematical structures and point toward an experimentally accessible, topological pre-quantum field theory for light.

This talk is part of the Theory of Condensed Matter series.

Tell a friend about this talk:

This talk is included in these lists:

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.

Other lists

Type the title of a new list here Faculty of Education Seminars Critical Approaches to ‘Vulnerability’ in Empirical Research (CAVER) [2019-20]

Other talks

Setting the Scene Object Pathos: Writing for Resonance in the English Classroom Closing Remarks/Discussion Friends, neighbours and enemies: cell-to-cell communication in times of stress Inclusivity in the Mathematical Sciences - actions and ideas On bounds of conformation tensor space in planar flows of the Oldroyd B model
 

© 2006-2026 Talks.cam, University of Cambridge. Contact Us | Help and Documentation | Privacy and Publicity