Hi,
I was reading about "delta undulators" which are related to undulators / free electron lasers etc.
They add more rows of magnets and adjust their placement to give variable polarization of the light output:
I was wondering about if it is possible to create a light beam that has variable orbital angular momentum with any set up like this?
cheers, Jamie
Circular polarization is easier to achieve with other techniques; those undulators only operate with relativistic electron beams for power (and the accelerator is a BIG piece of machinery to generate those beams). Regular old diode lasers can make coherent light at about one electron volt; the benefit of an undulator is, you can get up to X-rays (roughly a kilovolt for good coherence).
Visible light circular polarizers are old technology. There's two circular polarizer filters in a pair of 3-D movie specs...
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