"BROOKLYN QUANTUM" BEAMS UP

This week we'll be discussing yet another remarkable application of the Majorana stars: representing structured Gaussian beams of light! We all know how light has its own form of intrinsic angular momentum: polarization. But one can consider the extrinsic/orbital angular momentum of light as well: in the context of a laser beam, this would have to do with how the wavefront of the beam may be corkscrewing around optical vortices as it propagates along, above and beyond its polarization. Specifically, we'll be considering structured Gaussian beams of light, whose classical modes in a metaphysical twist can be related to the quantum energy states of the 2D quantum harmonic oscillator: since we know the latter can be reinterpreted as a tower of spin states, we can represent the orbital angular momentum of the classical beam in terms of our favorite constellations, even interpreting rotations in a natural way, and providing the occasion for rendering exceedingly hypnotizing animations to boot!