Three-dimensional (3D) displays project 3D images that give 3D perceptions and mimic real-world objects. Among the rich varieties of 3D displays, multiview displays take advantage of light’s various degrees of freedom and provide some of the 3D perceptions by projecting 2D subsampling of a 3D object. More 2D subsampling is required to project images with smoother parallax and more realistic sensation. As an additional degree of freedom with theoretically unlimited state space, orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes may be an alternative to the conventional multiview approaches and potentially project more images. This research involves exploring the possibility of encoding/decoding off-axis points in 2D images with OAM modes, development of the optical system, and design and development of a multiview colour display architecture. The first part of the research is exploring encoding/decoding off-axis points with OAM modes. Conventionally OAM modes are used to encode/decode the on-axis information only. Analysis of on-axis OAM beams referenced to off-axis points suggests representation of off-axis displacements as a set of expanded OAM components. At current stage off-axis points within an effective coding area are possible to be encoded/decoded with chosen OAM modes for multiplexing. Experimentally a 2D image is encoded/decoded with an OAM modes. When the encoding/decoding OAM modes match, the image is reconstructed. On the other hand, a dark region with zero intensity is shown. The dark region suggests the effective coding area for multiplexing. The final part of the research develops a multiview colour display. Based on understandings of off-axis representation of a set of different OAM components and experimental test of the optical system, three 1 mm monochromatic images are encoded, multiplexed and projected. Having studied wavelength effects on OAM coding, the initial architecture is updated to a scalable colour display consisting of four wavelengths.

Beams of light can carry spin and orbital angular momentum. Spin angular momentum describes how the direction of the electric field rotates about the propagation axis, while orbital angular momentum describes the rotation of the field amplitude pattern. These concepts are well understood for monochromatic beams, but previous theoretical studies have constructed polychromatic superpositions where the connection between angular momentum and rotation of the electric field becomes much less clear. These states are superpositions of two states of light carrying opposite signs of angular momentum and slightly detuned frequencies. They rotate at the typically small detuning frequency and thus we call them slowly rotating modes of light. Strangely, some of these modes appear to rotate in the direction opposing the sign of their angular momentum, while others exhibit overall rotation with no angular momentum at all! These findings have been the subject of some controversy, and in 2012, Susanna Todaro (HMC ’12) and I began work on trying to shed light on this “angular momentum paradox." In this thesis, I extend previous work in theory, simulation, and experiment. Via theory and modeling in Mathematica, I present a possible intuitive explanation for the angular momentum paradox. I also present experimental realization of slowly rotating spin superpositions, and outline the steps necessary to generate slowly rotating orbital angular momentum superpositions.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:14:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1944924 bytes, checksum: e08f0978e6406af124c9fe4875d2aa1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In this thesis we discuss some fundamental aspects of the quantum theory from a contemporaneous point of view, where we could develop three works. In the first we analyze theoretically an atomic double-slit interferometer. It has been shown that if the energy eigenstates of the atom are correlated with its particle and wave behaviors, complementary phenomena can be measured simultaneously, indicating a reinterpretation of the complementarity principle. We also demonstrate that this experiment possesses quantum erasure properties. In the second we present a two-particle interferometer in order to analyze the way in which decoherence affects quantum interference. It has been shown how the environmental constituents, here considered as photons, can destroy the oscillations in the coincidence detection rate of the particles. Due to the temporal characteristic of this kind of interference, we name this process as quantum temporal decoherence. In the last work we study the existence of a novel complete family of exact and orthogonal solutions of the paraxial wave equation. The complex amplitude of these beams is proportional to the confluent hypergeometric functions, which we name hypergeometric modes of type-II (HyG-II). It is formally demonstrated that a hyperbolic-index medium can generate and support the propagation of such a class of beams. Since these modes are eigenfunctions of the photon orbital angular momentum, we conclude that an optical fiber with hyperbolic-index profile could take advantage over other graded-index fibers by the capacity of data transmission. / Nesta tese discutimos alguns aspectos fundamentais da teoria quântica de um ponto de vista mais contemporâneo, onde também pudemos desenvolver três trabalhos. No primeiro analisamos teoricamente um interferômetro de fenda dupla para átomos. Mostramos que se os autoestados de energia do átomo estão correlacionados com os comportamentos de partícula e de onda do mesmo, fenômenos complementares podem ser medidos simultaneamente, indicando uma reinterpretação do princípio da complementaridade. O mesmo aparato também apresentou propriedades de apagador quântico. No segundo apresentamos um interferômetro de duas partículas e a maneira como a decoerência afeta o grau de interferência. Mostramos como os constituintes do ambiente, aqui considerados como fótons, podem destruir a oscilação na taxa de coincidência de detecção das partículas. Devido a sua característica temporal, chamamos este processo de decoerência temporal quântica. No último trabalho estudamos a existência de uma nova família de soluções ortogonais da equação paraxial da luz. A amplitude complexa desses feixes são proporcionais às funções hipergeométricas confluentes, que denominamos modos hipergeométricos do segundo tipo (HyG-II). Demonstramos formalmente que um meio com um perfil hiperbólico de índice de refração pode gerar e suportar essa classe de feixes. Uma vez que esses modos são autofunções do momento angular orbital do fóton, concluímos que uma fibra ótica com este perfil de índice, em certas situações, poderia levar vantagem em relação a outras fibras com índice variável na capacidade de transmissão de dados.

Cette thèse porte sur la manipulation du moment angulaire de la lumière à l'échelle sub-micronique. Le moment angulaire total de la lumière est composé d'une partie de spin, relié au degré de liberté de polarisation circulaire de la lumière, et d'une partie orbitale, relié au degré de libertés spatiaux de la lumière que sont sa direction de propagation (locale et globale) et sa distribution spatiale d'intensité. Le couplage spin-orbite existant entre ces deux contributions permet alors de manipuler les degrés de libertés spatiaux de la lumière par un simple contrôle de son état de polarisation circulaire. Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié et exploité ce couplage à l'échelle sub-micronique dans deux nouveaux phénomènes que nous avons mis en évidence. Le premier met à profit ce couplage pour permettre d'exciter de manière unidirectionnelle des modes plasmoniques guidés. Une étude complète (numérique, expérimentale et analytique) de ce phénomène nouveau, basé sur un couplage entre le moment de spin du photon incident et le moment orbital extrinsèque des modes plasmoniques guidés dans la courbure d'un guide, est présentée. La deuxième étude présente une voie pour tirer parti du transfert de moment orbital de la lumière à un gaz d'électrons libres dans un métal afin de générer et contrôler le sens et la géométries de boucles de courants sub-microniques dans des structures métalliques. Ce contrôle permettrait la génération d'optomaimants nanométriques, entièrement contrôlés par la lumière, pouvant être modulés aux fréquences optiques. Ce travail a été soutenu par le LABEX Action. / This thesis focuses on the manipulation of the angular momentum of light at the nanoscale.The total angular momentum of light is composed of a spin component, connected to the polarization degree of freedom of light, and an orbital component, related to the spatial degrees of freedom of the light which are its propagation direction (local and global) and its intensity distribution. The spin-orbit coupling between these two contributions allows the control of the spatial degrees of freedom of light by a simple manipulation of its circular polarization state. In this thesis, we have studied and applied this coupling at the nanoscale anbd we have highlighted two new phenomenas. The first one takes part of this coupling to allows unidirectional excitation of plasmonic guided modes. A complete study (numerical, experimental and analytical) of this new phenomenon, based on a coupling between the spin of the incident photon and the extrinsic orbital momentum of the plasmonic guided modes within the curvature of a waveguide, is presented. The second study propose a way to benefit from the transfer of the angular momentum of light to the free electrons gas in a metal to generate and control the direction and the geometry of nanoscale current loops in metallic structures. this control would at optical frequencies. This work was supported by the LABEX Action.