Note: a simple experimental arrangement to generate optical vortex beams

In this Note, we present a simple experimental arrangement to generate optical vortex beams. We have demonstrated how by taking print of an interferogram on a transparent sheet, vortex beams with various topological charges can be generated. Experimental results show that the vortex beam indeed carries the topological charge that is used to compute the interferograms. In addition to being simple and inexpensive, one major advantage of the arrangement is that it makes it possible to generate different vortex beams quickly, unlike using the photographic process to create the holograms.