Optical vortices produced by diffraction from dislocations in two-dimensional colloidal crystals

M. P. MacDonald, P. Prentice, K. Dholakia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A dislocation in a crystal can be described by a Burger's vector b, whilst a screw dislocation in a laser mode can be described by a topological charge l. By illuminating both optically trapped and self-assembled two-dimensional (2D) colloidal crystals with a Gaussian laser beam, we show a correspondence between crystal and optical dislocations, where the first order diffraction pattern from a crystal with Burgers' vector b = na consists of vortex laser modes of topological charge l = ±mn, (n = integer, a = lattice constant and m = diffraction order).

Original languageEnglish
Article number257
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalNew Journal of Physics
Volume8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Oct 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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