Abstract
We introduce a novel and simple modulation technique to tailor optical beams with a customized amount of orbital angular momentum (OAM). The technique is based on the modulation of the angular spectrum of a seed beam, which allows us to specify in an independent manner the value of OAM and the shape of the resulting beam transverse intensity. We experimentally demonstrate our method by arbitrarily shaping the radial and angular intensity distributions of Bessel and Laguerre-Gauss beams, while their OAM value remains constant. Our experimental results agree with the numerical and theoretical predictions.
Highlights
Beam shaping studies the techniques to modify either the amplitude or phase of a light beam [1]
We introduce a versatile method to tailor the transverse shape of a light beam, while maintaining its orbital angular momentum (OAM) fixed at a given value, not necessarily integer
We have introduced a method that allows us to control in an independent manner the symmetry of the beam transverse intensity and its amount of OAM
Summary
Beam shaping studies the techniques to modify either the amplitude or phase of a light beam [1]. The OAM contained in a Laguerre-Gauss is proportional to the topological charge and is generated by an azimuthal phase distribution of the form exp(i φ). This opened a large number of applications in optical trapping, manipulation, and communications [3, 4]. We can use spiral phase plates, superposition of Hermite-Gauss modes, PancharatnamBerry phase optical elements (e.g. q-plates), and spatial light modulators (SLM) [5]. These methods usually generate light beams containing integer values of OAM. Our experimental method finds its theoretical basis on the work by Martinez-Castellanos et al [10]
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