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Updated: Jun 6, 2026

The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry
Published on: August 12, 2013
Structure of optical singularities in coaxial superpositions of Laguerre-Gaussian modes
Taro Ando1, Naoya Matsumoto, Yoshiyuki Ohtake
1Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Central Research Laboratory, 5000 Hirakuchi, Hamamatsu-City 434-8601, Japan. taro@crl.hpk.co.jp
Abstract:
We investigate optical singularities in coaxial superpositions of two Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes with a common beam waist from the viewpoints of a general formulation of phase structure, experimental generation of various superposition beams, and evaluation of the generated beams' fidelity. By applying a holographic phase-amplitude modulation scheme using a phase-modulation-type spatial light modulator, output fidelity beyond 0.960 was observed under several typical conditions. Additionally, an elliptic-type folded singularity, which provides a different class of phase structures from familiar helical singularities, was predicted and observed in a superposition involving two LG modes of both radially and azimuthally higher orders.
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