Generation of nonlinear vortex precursors

We numerically study the propagation of a few-cycle pulse carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) through a dense atomic system. Nonlinear precursors consisting of high-order vortex har- monics are generated in the transmitted field due to ultrafast Bloch oscillation. The nonlinear precursors survive to propagation effects and are well separated with the main pulse, which provide a straightforward way of measuring precursors. By the virtue of carrying high-order OAM, the obtained vortex precursors as information carriers have potential applications in optical informa- tion and communication fields where controllable loss, large information-carrying capacity and high speed communication are required.