Singular skeleton of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam transformed by the double-phase-ramp converter.

Abstract

We analyze transformations of circular Laguerre-Gaussian beams with zero radial index after passage through the double-phase-ramp (DPR) converter and study the behavior of optical vortices in the propagating transformed beam. Direct and inverse DPR converters are considered, and informative features of the complete set of optical vortices are revealed. For the input beam with even azimuthal index, such a reaction may cause the sign reversal of the axial optical vortex. The results can be used for creation of light beams with prescribed singular skeleton, for the beam diagnostics, and in high-resolution metrology.