The recent article “Twisted waves in a magnetized plasma”, by professors Tito Mendonça and João Pedro Bizarro, both professors at the Department of Physics – Instituto Superior Técnico, was published in the 3rd edition of 2017 Europhysics News, the European Physical Society magazine. The work carried out by these Técnico professors explores the properties of twisted light beams inside a magnetised plasma.

Twisted waves should be understood as the light waves that carry angular orbital momentum (OAM) and whose wave front describes an helix as it propagates. The researchers focus on a twisted wave propagating in a magnetised plasma, leading to a variety of solutions and providing a scintigraphic description.

This topic has been attracting experts in recent years, leading to the discovery of a series of new and surprising effects.