Laser-induced radial birefringence and spin-to-orbital optical angular momentum conversion in silver-doped glasses

Samples of Ag + /Na + ion-exchanged glass that have been subject to intense laser irradiation may develop novel optical properties, as a consequence of the formation of patterns of silver nanoparticles and other structures. Here, we report the observation of a laser-induced permanent transverse bire...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied physics letters Vol. 99; no. 1; pp. 011113 - 011113-3
Main Authors Amjad, Jafar Mostafavi, Khalesifard, Hamid Reza, Slussarenko, Sergei, Karimi, Ebrahim, Marrucci, Lorenzo, Santamato, Enrico
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Institute of Physics 04.07.2011
Subjects
ANISOTROPY
BIREFRINGENCE
CONVERSION
DOPED MATERIALS
GLASS
ION EXCHANGE
LASER RADIATION
MATERIALS SCIENCE
NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM
PARTICLES
SILVER
SILVER IONS
SODIUM IONS
SPIN
STRESSES
VISIBLE RADIATION
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Summary:Samples of Ag + /Na + ion-exchanged glass that have been subject to intense laser irradiation may develop novel optical properties, as a consequence of the formation of patterns of silver nanoparticles and other structures. Here, we report the observation of a laser-induced permanent transverse birefringence, with the optical axis forming a radial pattern, as revealed by the spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion occurring in a probe light beam. The birefringence pattern can be modeled well as resulting from thermally-induced stresses arising in the silver-doped glass during laser exposure, although the actual mechanism leading to the permanent anisotropy is probably more complex.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.3610474