Orbital angular momentum microlaser.

Structured light provides an additional degree of freedom for modern optics and practical applications. The effective generation of orbital angular momentum (OAM) lasing, especially at a micro- and nanoscale, could address the growing demand for information capacity. By exploiting the emerging non-Hermitian photonics design at an exceptional point, we demonstrate a microring laser producing a single-mode OAM vortex lasing with the ability to precisely define the topological charge of the OAM mode. The polarization associated with OAM lasing can be further manipulated on demand, creating a radially polarized vortex emission. Our OAM microlaser could find applications in the next generation of integrated optoelectronic devices for optical communications in both quantum and classical regimes.