Abstract
We analyze the collective light scattering by cold atoms in free space of a pump-laser beam possessing orbital angular momentum. We derive a set of coupled multiparticle equations for the atomic motion in which the vacuum-mode field is adiabatically eliminated. The resulting equations describe collective recoil as due to either transfer of linear momentum or orbital angular momentum. For a transverse annular atomic distribution the initial equilibrium with uniform atomic phases and no scattered field is unstable. The atoms are set in rotation and bunched in phase at different harmonics depending on the pump azimuthal index $\ensuremath{\ell}$ and on the ring radius.
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