Twisted light in atomic physics: Recent theoretical studies
Prof. Dr. Andrey Surzhykov (Fundamentale Physik der Metrologie, PTB Braunschweig)

During the recent years light beams with a helical phase front, that also carry orbital angular momentum (OAM) have been in the focus of experimental and theoretical studies. Today, such twisted beams are routinely produced across the electromagnetic spectrum, with photon energies ranging from meV to hundreds of eV. Twisted light is used for multiplexing in optical communications, for manipulating microparticles, and for studying the angular momentum transfer to atoms, molecules or even BEC's. In my talk, I will review recent theoretical advances in studying fundamental light-matter interaction processes such as the photon absorption and atomic photoeffect. We will discuss, in particular, how the OAM of twisted photons can affect the selection rules of bound-state radiative transitions as well as the angular distribution of emitted photoelectrons.