Probing Human Vision with Orbital Angular Momentum of Light

"Introduction:
Lasers and optics have been applied in biomedical applications frequently and at great lengths particularly for ocular health. Polarised light has been researched extensively yet there is a profound research gap within manipulating the wavefront pattern into helical structures, to investigate their efficacy for biomedical applications. Polarised light with orbital angular momentum (OAM) can have greater sensitivity and resolution making this light property superior to conventionally used polarised light.
Specifically in relation to ocular health, turbid-like media scattering properties located within the macular have not been investigated in depth.
Method:
The main objectives concerning the project includes the research and comprehension of polarised light with orbital angular momentum and how it can be manipulated for its purpose as well as determining the optimal parameters for ocular medical imaging. The small alterations in the helical structure effect on biological cells and the advancement in sensitivity and resolution will be explored.
Mathematical Modelling:
To explore the effect of alterations of wavefronts to manifest varying helical sizes, algebraic formulations will describe the OAM transformation which are distributed within space and including parameters involving time scales, pulse width and time repetition rate scales. Consequently, wavefront shape evolution against time can be depicted coupled with space and repetition of pulses within inhomogeneous media to replicate how the propagation would naturally occur in biological matter. Thus, the behavioural influence of OAM of light within a biological interaction context can be explored.
Experimental studies:
Using a polarised light source with OAM characteristics will be installed within a Mach-Zehnder based interferometer to study its effect on turbid-like scattering media. To propel this method, the fabrication of a phantom will be used to demonstrate the effects such...