Abstract
In this work, we generate optical vortices from the supercontinuum output of an ultrafast laser interacting with a micro-structured fiber. Using a segmented spatial light modulator, multiple vortices are designed and dynamically generated and shifted in order to observe their superposition in the image plane. It is shown that single-color patterns of exquisite complexity can be generated across a wide frequency range. Multi-color interference patterns are experimentally generated and compared to the results of computer simulations. Multiple vortices of varying colors are also generated and independently controlled, demonstrating that no spatial interference occurs. Experimental results are compared with theoretical and numerical simulations, showing excellent agreement.
Highlights
There has been a great interest in the propagation and properties of optical vortices over the last few decades [1,2]
We model a flattop beam passing through a spiral phase plate and a perfect focusing lens, the computer code can be used to calculate the effect of a wide range of beam profiles, phase distributions and optical aberrations
We have demonstrated the generation and control of tunable multi-color optical vortices
Summary
There has been a great interest in the propagation and properties of optical vortices over the last few decades [1,2]. With the prediction and subsequent demonstration that vortex beams carry orbital angular momentum [3], vortices have found a wide range of applications, such as optical trapping [4,5], quantum information processing [6,7], microscopy imaging [8,9] and laser micromachining [10,11]. Their generation has been proposed through interferometric setups [12], by using spiral phase plates [13]. We demonstrate that with the use of a large
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