Competition between spin and orbital photon angular momentum transfer in liquid crystals

We present a theoretical and experimental study on the transfer of angular momentum from a light beam to a nematic liquid crystal film. In the angular momentum transfer process photons are not destroyed, but scattered in a different angular momentum state: a process known as self-induced stimulated light scattering (Santamato E, Daino B, Romagnoli M, Settembre M and Shen Y R 1988 Phys. Rev. Lett. 61 113-16). Each photon in the incident beam transfers to the material only the change of its angular momentum, producing a torque on the body. Under the action of this torque, the body starts to rotate, changing, in turn, the amount of angular momentum extracted from the light beam. The process is intrinsically nonlinear and, as proved by the experiments reported in this paper, it can be initiated by a light beam carrying no angular momentum at all.