Optical Vortex

These laboratory images demonstrate how the optical vortex coronograph works.
They were obtained with a green "star" and red "planet" (point light sources).
(a) shows how the green light is "spun out," while the red light remains unaffected.
Images of the point sources are shown when large (b) and small (c) apertures are used to limit
the transmission of light from (a).
Reported by: Foo et al. in Optics Letters for 1 December 2005
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