Next Colloquium Event 6th February: "Generation and Detection of Twisted Waves of Neutrons and Light"

6 February 2023

An invitation to attend the next event in our Physics Colloquium series.

Venue: 3.21 Berry Lecture Theatre, HH Wills Physics Labs Building, Tyndall Ave, 3pm

We would like to invite you to attend the Physics Colloquium, which will be held at 3pm on Mondays in 3.21, the Berry Lecture Theatre. The colloquia will be followed by tea and coffee in the staff coffee room. We hope to see you there!

The most imminent event in the series, on the 6th of February, will be presented by Charles W. Clark (Merton College, University of Oxford. Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland). Click here for a PDF of the abstract: Colloquium Poster 6th February 2023 (PDF, 892kB)

Abstract:

In celebration of the Golden Jubilee of "Dislocations in wave trains," [1] I am pleased to bring some new coals to Bristol. About twenty years after its publication, "Dislocations" became an Old Testament of the field now known as "structured light" [2,3] and "optical orbital angular momentum" [4], following ingenious experiments by the Ukrainian group of Soskin et al. that showed promise of wide application. [5] Quantum particle beams can also be shaped by like tools. I will present recent results for neutron beams, made possible by a microfabricated synthetic hologram containing millions of the forked dislocation gratings discussed by Soskin. [6]

Further information

[1] "Dislocations in wave trains," J. F. Nye and M. V. Berry, received 17 January 1973, published in Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 366, 165 - 190 (1974)

[2] "Roadmap on structured light," H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop, et al., J. Opt. 19, 013001 (2017)

[3] "Roadmap on structured waves," K. Bliokh et al., arXiv:2301.05349 (submitted 13 January 2023)

[4] "Optical orbital angular momentum," S. M. Barnett, M. Babiker and M. J. Padgett, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A 375, 20150444 (2017)

[5] "A tribute to Marat Soskin," M. V. Berry et al., J. Opt. 23, 050201 (2021)