Interaction of OAM light with Rydberg excitons: Modifying dipole selection rules

Abstract

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) light possesses in addition to its usual helicity (\(s=\pm \hbar\), depending on its circular polarization) an orbital angular momentum \(l\). This means that in principle one can transfer more than a single quantum of \(\hbar\) during an optical transition from light to a quantum system. However, quantum objects are usually so small (typically in the nm range) that they only locally probe the dipolar character of the local electric field. In order to sense the complete macroscopic electric field, we utilize Rydberg excitons in the semiconductor cuprite (\(\text{Cu}_2\text{O}\)), which are single quantum objects of up to \(\mu m\) size. Their interaction with focused OAM light, allows for matching the focal spot size and the wavefunction diameter. Here, the common dipole selection rules (\(\Delta j=\pm 1\)) should be broken, and transitions of higher \(\Delta j\) with higher order OAM states should become more probable. Based on group theory, we analyze in detail the optical selection rules governing this process.