Plasmons with orbital angular momentum

Electron plasma waves carrying orbital angular momentum are investigated in an unmagnetized collisionless plasma composed of inertial electrons and static ions. For this purpose, the usual plasmon dispersion relation is employed to derive an approximate paraxial equation. The latter is analyzed with a Gaussian beam solution. For a finite angular momentum associated with the plasmon, Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) solutions are employed for solving the electrostatic potential problem which gives approximate solution and is valid for plasmon beams in the paraxial approximation. The LG potential determines the electric field components and energy flux of plasmons with finite angular momentum. Numerical illustrations show that the radial and angular mode numbers strongly modify the profiles of the LG potential.