We found that small perturbations of the optical vortex core in the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams generate a fine structure of the Hermite-Gauss (HG) mode spectrum. Such perturbations can be easily simulated by weak variations of amplitudes and phases of the HG modes in the expansion of the LG beam field. We also theoretically substantiated and experimentally implemented a method for measuring the topological charge of LG beams with an arbitrary number of ring dislocations. Theoretical discussion and experimental studies were accompanied by simple examples of estimating the orbital angular momentum and the topological charge of perturbed LG beams.
A generalized family of scalar structured Gaussian modes including helical-Ince--Gaussian (HIG) and Hermite--Laguerre--Gaussian (HLG) beams is presented with physical insight upon a hybrid topological evolution nature of multi-singularity vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). Considering the physical origins of intrinsic coordinates aberration and the Gouy phase shift, a closed-form expression is derived to characterize the general modes in astigmatic optical systems. Moreover, a graphical representation, Singularities Hybrid Evolution Nature (SHEN) sphere, is proposed to visualize the topological evolution of the multi-singularity beams, accommodating HLG, HIG and other typical subfamilies as characteristic curves on the sphere surface. The salient properties of SHEN sphere for describing the precise singularities splitting phenomena, exotic structured light fields, and Gouy phase shift are illustrated with adequate experimental verifications.
The Hermite-Gaussian (HG) modes, sometimes also referred to as transverse electromagnetic modes in free space, form a complete and orthonormal basis that have been extensively used to describe optical fields. In addition, these modes have been shown to be helpful to enhance information capacity of optical communications as well as to achieve super-resolution imaging in microscopy. Here we propose and present the realization of an efficient, robust mode sorter that can sort a large number of HG modes based on the relation between HG modes and Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes. We experimentally demonstrate the sorting of 16 HG modes, and our method can be readily extended to a higher-dimensional state space in a straightforward manner. We expect that our demonstration will have direct applications in a variety of fields including fiber optics, classical and quantum communications, as well as super-resolution imaging.
Vast geographical distances in Africa are a leading cause for the so-called digital divide due to the high cost of installing fibre. Free-Space Optical (FSO) communications offer a convenient and higher bandwidth alternative to point-to-point radio microwave links, with the possibility of re-purposing existing infrastructure. Unfortunately, the range of high bandwidth FSO remains limited. While there has been extensive research into an optimal mode set for FSO to achieve maximum data throughput by mode division multiplexing, there has been relatively little work investigating optical modes to improve the resilience of FSO links. Here we experimentally show that a carefully chosen subset of Hermite-Gaussian modes is more resilient to atmospheric turbulence than similar Laguerre-Gauss beams, theoretically resulting in a 167% theoretical increase of propagation distance at a mode dependent loss of 50%.
Thus, the results of our studies lie in developing and implementing the basic principles of digital sorting the Laguerre-Gauss modes by radial numbers both for a non-degenerate and a degenerate state of a vortex beam subject to perturbations in the form of a hard-edged aperture of variable radius. The digital sorting of LG beams by the orthogonal basis involves the use of higher-order intensity moments, and subsequent scanning of the modulated beam images at the focal plane of a spherical lens. As a result, we obtain a system of linear equations for the squared mode amplitudes and the cross amplitudes of the perturbed beam. The solution of the equations allows one to determine the amplitudes of each LG mode and restore both the real mode array and the combined beam as a whole. First, we developed a digital sorting algorithm, and then two types of vortex beams were experimentally studied on its basis: a single LG beam and a composition of single LG beams with the same topological charges(azimuthal numbers) and different radial numbers . The beam was perturbed by means of a circular hard-edged aperture with different radii R. As a result of the perturbation, a set of secondary LG modes with different radial numbers k is appeared that is characterized by an amplitude spectrum . The spectrum obtained makes it possible to restore both the real array of LG modes and the perturbed beam itself with a degree of correlation not lower than. As a measure of uncertainty induced by the perturbation we measured the informational entropy (Shannons entropy)
Mode-locking is predicted in a nanolaser cavity forming an effective photonic harmonic potential. The cavity is substantially more compact than a Fabry-Perot resonator with comparable pulsing period, which is here controlled by the potential. In the limit of instantaneous gain and absorption saturation, mode-locking corresponds to a stable dissipative soliton, which it very well approximated by the coherent state of a quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator. This property is robust against non-instantaneous material response and non-zero phase-intensity coupling.