We demonstrate a direct one-to-one correspondence between nonlinear optical fields in defocusing Kerr media and wave functions in weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensates or quantum fluids. Based on this correspondence, we propose the existence of excitations in an optical vortex beam characterized by a helical deformation of its phase singularity core. These excitations are direct analogs of Kelvin waves known in quantum and classical fluid dynamics. We further show that the excitations exhibit two distinct branches, one of which includes a stationary solution. A feasible experimental scheme for generating these excitations is also discussed.

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• Nonlinear optics
• Quantum fluids & solids