Direct generation of 523 nm orbital Poincaré mode from a diode-pumped Pr³⁺:LiYF₄ laser with an off-axis optical needle pumping geometry

Abstract

(YLF) laser, in which the intracavity lasing modes are represented as eigenmodes on an equivalent orbital Poincaré sphere (eOPS). This is achieved through the simple application of an 'optical-needle' pumping geometry in conjunction with off-axis laser mode-manipulation. Optical vortices that are produced and mapped on north and south poles of the eOPS exhibit a maximum output power of 304 mW with a pump-to-laser-output slope efficiency of 12%. In addition, higher-order structured modes, including Ince Gaussian (IG), helical IG (HIG), Hermite-Laguerre Gaussian (HLG) and vortex lattices, can be directly generated from the laser cavity.

Topics & Concepts