Coherent beam combining of optical vortices

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Optics
• Laser Technology

Background:

• Optical vortices are beams of light with orbital angular momentum.
• High-power optical vortices are crucial for advanced applications but limited by single-source power constraints.
• Coherent beam combining (CBC) offers a potential solution for power scaling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally demonstrate the power scaling of optical vortices using CBC.
• To investigate the efficiency of CBC for optical vortices with varying topological charges.
• To establish CBC as a viable method for surpassing power limitations in optical vortex generation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a Yb-doped fiber short-pulsed laser system to generate optical vortices.
• Employed coherent beam combining (CBC) technique to merge multiple vortex beams.
• Generated optical vortices with topological charges from ℓ=1 to ℓ=5 using spatial light modulators (SLMs).

Main Results:

• Achieved power scaling of optical vortices through CBC.
• Observed combining efficiencies ranging from 83.2% to 96.9%.
• Efficiency was dependent on the topological charge and the quality of the beam patterns generated by SLMs.

Conclusions:

• CBC is a feasible proof-of-concept for overcoming single-source power limitations of optical vortices.
• This approach enables the generation of high-power optical vortices.
• The results pave the way for advanced applications in light-matter interactions across science and industry.