The vortex light induced electric dipole and electric quadru-pole transition in Ca atom

Abstract The Laguerre–Gaussian beam induced electric transition model is presented. The major mechanism of angular momentum exchange between the light and the atomic system is discussed. The influence of the topological charge on the transition probability and selection rules is obtained. Our results show that the Ca(4s 2 1 S 0 –4s3d 1 D 2 ) electric quadrupole transition selection rules are sensitive to the sign of l , and the center of mass transition selection rules are governed by the topological charge l of the light. The electric dipole transition is possible in a field with topological charge l > 0, and the quadrupole transition is no longer forbidden. The overall transition probability difference between dipole transition and quadrupole transition can be decreased by the joint action of the light angular momentum exchange with the external and the internal motion.