Theoretical and experimental study of a controllable double-dark-hollow beam

Abstract

A novel scheme is proposed for a double-dark-hollow beam (DDHB) based on non-full-range phase modulation with double-period. Upon illumination by a collimated He-Ni laser beam shaped by a round hole with a radius of 1.5 mm, the DDHB with an axial length of 30 mm, a width of 0.110.14 mm for each dark hollow beam and their separated distance being 57.6 m is generated in the image space of lens with a focal length of 200 mm. The proposed scheme has the advantages of simple construction and high controllability, and the separated distance between the two light pipes is only dependent on the factor of phase modulation of p. Under the given conditions, a reversible evolution process from a DDHB to a single dark hollow beam (SDHB) can be realized. Experiments for our scheme are performed, results of which are consistent with the theoretical ones. A valuable expansion of the application of DDHB in blue-detuned optical trapping is also discussed. Double and four well hollow optical traps, even the hollow optical lattices can be obtained by using various spatial combinations of our DDHB. The proposed DDHB is expected to play an important role in the study of trapping and manipulation of cold atoms or molecules.