Superradiant transfer of quantized orbital angular momentum between light and atoms in a ring trap

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) from a laser beam can be coherently transferred to a Bose-Einstein condensate in a ring trap, in quantized units of ℏ. The light-matter coupling allows for the superradiant transfer of the atoms between the discrete OAM states. Tuning the ring parameters and winding number of the pump light, specific angular momentum states can be populated. This in turn allows control of the emission to generate light with OAM different from that of the pump, as the atomic ring imprints its contribution on the scattered light.