Plasmonic trapping and tuning of a gold nanoparticle dimer

This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/L022559/1]. Z.S. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from China Scholarship Council (No. 201408060330)

Light Fan Driven by a Relativistic Laser Pulse

When a relativistic laser pulse with a high photon density interacts with a specially tailored thin foil target, a strong torque is exerted on the resulting spiral-shaped foil plasma, or “light fan.” Because of its structure, the latter can gain significant orbital angular momentum (OAM), and the opposite OAM is imparted to the reflected light, creating a twisted relativistic light pulse. Such an interaction scenario is demonstrated by particle-in-cell simulation as well as analytical modeling, and should be easily verifiable in the laboratory. As an important characteristic, the twisted relativistic light pulse has a strong torque and ultrahigh OAM density