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    Locking Orbital Angular Momentum with Linear Momentum of Light

    Hui-Ming Wang1,2,*, Yuan Chen3,*, Ming-Yuan Chen4,*, Ying-Yu Fang1,2, Ka-Di Zhu5,†, Cheng-Wei Qiu6,‡, Yan-Qing Lu4,§, Keyu Xia2,4,7,∥, and Xian-Min Jin1,2,8,9,¶

    • 1Center for Integrated Quantum Information Technologies (IQIT), School of Physics and Astronomy and State Key Laboratory of Photonics and Communications, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
    • 2Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
    • 3International Quantum Academy, Shenzhen 518048, China
    • 4College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
    • 5Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education) and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
    • 6Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117583, Singapore
    • 7Shishan Laboratory, Suzhou Campus of Nanjing University, Suzhou 215000, China
    • 8TuringQ Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200240, China
    • 9Chip Hub for Integrated Photonics Xplore (CHIPX), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Wuxi 214000, China

    • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
    • †Contact author: zhukadi@sjtu.edu.cn
    • ‡Contact author: chengwei.qiu@nus.edu.sg
    • §Contact author: qylu@nju.edu.cn
    • ∥Contact author: keyu.xia@nju.edu.cn
    • Contact author: xianmin.jin@sjtu.edu.cn
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    Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 143802 – Published 2 October, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tttd-v936

    Abstract

    Correlation between the propagation direction of light and spin can be induced via the spin-orbit interaction and has been proven to be the workhorse in the emerging field of chiral quantum optics and in the spin-related Hall effects of light. Photonic orbital angular momentum (OAM) provides a high-dimensional degree of freedom in classical and quantum information processing. However, integrated OAM-based information technology is an open challenge, because OAM modes are always generated in pairs with opposite topological charges due to their degeneracy. Here, we observe locking of the OAM and linear momentum of light by using a chiral optical waveguide with an Archimedean cross section to induce the orbit-orbit interaction. This OAM-momentum locking enables the deterministic and robust generation of on-demand OAM vortex light beam in a photonic chip. This new correlation paves the way toward exotic high-dimensional chiral physical effects and also provides the capability of on-chip manipulation of light in high-dimensional space.

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    Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 143802– Published 2 October, 2025
    • Received 10 March 2025
    • Revised 15 May 2025
    • Accepted 23 June 2025
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