Experimental observation and manipulation of optical tornado waves.

We report experimental realization and manipulation of optical tornado waves (ToWs). By controlling the self-focusing length, total angular momentum, and foci deviation of ToWs, the propagation properties of optical ToWs, especially their angular velocity, can be manipulated. Controlling the accumulated rotation angle of the main intensity lobes of ToWs from 0° through 1100° is experimentally demonstrated, and their angular velocity is predicted to be the highest around the foci overlap situation. Our experimental results are in good agreement with numerical results.