Brief Communications
Nature 432, 165 (11 November 2004) | doi:10.1038/432165a; Published online 10 November 2004
Laser beams: Knotted threads of darkness
Jonathan Leach1, Mark R. Dennis2,3, Johannes Courtial1 and Miles J. Padgett1
Destructive interference may lead to complete cancellation when light waves travelling in different directions cross, and in three-dimensional space this occurs along lines that are vortices of electromagnetic energy flow1. Here we confirm theoretical predictions2, 3 by experimentally creating combinations of optical laser beams in which these dark threads form stable loops that are linked and knotted.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
- H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
- School of Mathematics, University of Southampton, Highfield SO17 1BJ, UK
Correspondence to: Jonathan Leach1 Email: j.leach@physics.gla.ac.uk
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
Laser beams Knotted threads of darknessNature Brief Communication (11 Nov 2004)
Entanglement of the orbital angular momentum states of photonsNature Letters to Editor (19 Jul 2001)
Growth of 'dizzy dendrites' in a random field of foreign particlesNature Materials Letter (01 Feb 2003)