Spatio-temporal optical vortex (STOV) pulses

We review highlights of our recent contributions to understanding the propagation dynamics and transverse orbital angular momentum of optical pulses carrying spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs). STOVs, which were first observed as an emergent phenomenon in nonlinear self-focusing, were first linearly generated using a 4𝑓 pulse shaper and measured using transient-grating single-shot supercontinuum spectral interferometry (TG-SSSI). That STOV-based transverse orbital angular momentum (OAM) is carried at the single photon level was then confirmed in measurements of OAM conservation in second harmonic generation. Our recent theory for the electromagnetic mode structure and transverse OAM of STOV-carrying pulses in dispersive media predicts half-integer OAM and the existence of a transverse OAM-carrying quasiparticle: the bulk medium STOV polariton.