Generating High‐Charge Optical Vortices Directly from Laser Up to 288th Order

Abstract

AbstractHigh‐charge optical vortices, every photon of which carries an orbital angular momentum with a large quantum number, are ideal sources for testing macroscopic quantum entanglements. Also, they show great potential in angular remote sensing and precise spatial measurements. The optical vortices generated directly from laser, which are eigensolutions of laser cavity equation (Helmholtz equation), are naturally of ideal quality. So far, many attempts have been made to generate optical vortices directly from lasers, but the topological charge remains low (<10th order). Here, the generation of optical vortices with high topological charge directly from laser is reported. By laser inscribing round patterns on the surface of the cavity mirror, optical vortices with topological charges up to the 288th order are generated. A theoretical design criterion is proposed for generating arbitrary‐charge optical vortices directly from laser, and even generation of over the 1000th‐order vortex is feasible with this method. It is also experimentally demonstrated that the generated vortices from the laser are transmission stable and have a significant advantage over the vortices generated by phase elements. This work may open up application prospects of optical vortices in quantum optics and precise metrology.