Photonic integrated devices for exploiting the orbital angular momentum of light in optical communications

Emerging applications based on optical beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) will likely require photonic integrated devices and circuits for miniaturization, improved performance and enhanced functionality. This paper reviews the state-of-the art in the field of OAM of light, reports recent developments in silicon integrated OAM emitters, and discusses the applications potentials and challenges in silicon integrated OAM devices which can be used in future OAM based optical communications systems.