Scientists from the University of Warsaw, the Military University of Technology and Institut Pascal CNRS at Université Clermont Auvergne report creating miniature “optical tornadoes” — swirling, vortex-like beams of light — using a compact setup based on liquid crystals. The team trapped light inside self-organizing defects called torons, placed the torons in an optical microcavity and used spatially varying material properties to make light spiral and rotate. Crucially, the researchers produced these vortices in light’s ground (lowest-energy) state and-after adding a laser dye-observed coherent, laser-like emission from the rotating beams.
“You can think of it as an optical vortex,” says Dr. Marcin Muszynski, first author and researcher at the University of Warsaw and City College of New York. He explains that the light wave twists around its axis so its phase winds in a spiral, and the polarization (the direction of the electric-field oscillation) begins to rotate as well. Such structured light carrying orbital angular momentum is of interest for quantum communication and for manipulating microscopic objects, but it normally requires complex nanostructures or large setups.
Instead of elaborate fabrication, the team turned to liquid crystals, a material that flows like a liquid but whose molecules adopt an ordered orientation like a crystal. “Within this material, special defects known as torons can form,” says Joanna Medrzycka, a nanotechnology student at the University of Warsaw who prepared the samples with Dr. Eva Oton. Medrzycka describes torons as tightly twisted spirals whose ends join into a doughnut-like ring; these rings act as microscopic traps that can confine and shape light.
The researchers created a “synthetic magnetic field” for photons by using spatially variable birefringence — differences in how the material transmits different polarizations of light. “We call it ‘synthetic’ because its mathematical description resembles a magnetic field,” says Dr. Piotr Kapuscinski of the University of Warsaw. The effect bends light in ways analogous to electrons in cyclotron orbits. Placing the toron inside a mirror microcavity strengthened the effect and allowed the team to tune the trap size with an external voltage, says Dr. Muszynski.
The breakthrough is that the vortex-like modes appear in the ground state rather than only in excited states. “For the first time, we managed to obtain this effect in the ground state,” says Prof. Guillaume Malpuech of Université Clermont Auvergne and CNRS, noting that the ground state is the most stable and easiest for energy to accumulate in. Prof. Jacek Szczytko, leader of the Warsaw group, adds that ground-state vortices have lower losses, which makes lasing simpler to achieve.
To test this, the team introduced a laser dye into the microcavity and observed light that not only rotated but also behaved like laser light: coherent, with a well-defined energy and emission direction, Muszynski says. The researchers emphasize that their approach combines quantum mechanics, materials engineering, optics and solid-state physics, offering a simpler route to structured light and potential applications in photonics and quantum technologies. (ANI)
Original Source: https://theshillongtimes.com/2026/04/28/new-optical-tornado-technology-can-transform-quantum-communication/
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Publish Date: 2026-04-28 03:09:00
