Atomic form factor for twisted vortex photons interacting with atoms

Abstract: The relatively new atomic form factor for twisted (vortex) beams, which carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), is considered and compared to the conventional atomic form factor for plane wave beams that carry only spin angular momentum (SAM). Since the vortex symmetry of a twisted photon is more complex that that of a plane-wave, evaluation of the atomic form factor is also more complex for twisted photons. On the other hand, the twisted photon has additional parameters, including the OAM quantum number, $\ell$, the nodal radial number, $p$, and the Rayleigh range, $z_R$ that determines the cone angle of the vortex. This Rayleigh range may be used as a variable parameter to control, in new ways, the interaction of twisted photons with matter. Here we address: i) normalization of the vortex atomic form factor, ii) displacement of target atoms away from the center of the beam vortex, and iii) formulation of transition probabilities for a variety of photon-atom processes. We attend to features related to new experiments that can test the range of validity and accuracy of calculations of these variations of the atomic form factor. Using the absolute square of the form factor for vortex beams, we introduce a vortex factor that can be directly measured.