• Photonics Research
  • Vol. 9, Issue 5, 856 (2021)
Di Lin1、*, Joel Carpenter2, Yutong Feng1, Yongmin Jung1, Shaif-ul Alam1, and David J. Richardson1
Author Affiliations
  • 1Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
  • 2School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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    DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.412342 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    Di Lin, Joel Carpenter, Yutong Feng, Yongmin Jung, Shaif-ul Alam, David J. Richardson. High-power, electronically controlled source of user-defined vortex and vector light beams based on a few-mode fiber amplifier[J]. Photonics Research, 2021, 9(5): 856 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    Optical angular momentum (OAM)-based structured light beams provide an additional degree of freedom for practical applications ranging from optical communication to laser-based material processing. Many techniques exist for generating such beams within laser sources and these primarily rely upon the use of specially designed optical components that limit laser power scaling and ready tunability of the topological charge and polarization of the output OAM beams. Here we show that some of these limitations can be overcome by employing a computer controlled reflective phase-only spatial light modulator to adaptively tailor the input (and subsequent output) beam wavefront and polarization in a few-mode fiber amplifier. In this way modal-coupling-induced beam distortion within the fiber amplifier can be mitigated and we are able to generate at will any desired supported spatial mode guided in the fiber, including conventional linearly polarized (LP) modes, scalar OAM modes, and cylindrical vector modes, at average powers >10 W and with a peak power of >11 kW. Our results pave the way to the realization of practical high-power structured laser sources with tunable chirality and polarization.
    Ein=l=Nl=N(al|H,l+bl|V,l),

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    cε,L=Ψε,L|Eout,(A1)

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    ρL=cε,±L2l=0l=3cε,±|l|2.(A2)

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    {HEL+1,meven|HEL+1,meven=2(11)|0+(11)|2L+(11)|2LHEL+1,modd|HEL+1,meven=i(11)|2L+i(11)|2LEHL1,meven|HEL+1,meven=2(11)|0+(11)|2L+(11)|2LEHL1,modd|HEL+1,meven=i(11)|2L+i(11)|2L.(A3)

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    ηj=PjPj,(A4)

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    γLj=ηjρL.(A5)

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    Di Lin, Joel Carpenter, Yutong Feng, Yongmin Jung, Shaif-ul Alam, David J. Richardson. High-power, electronically controlled source of user-defined vortex and vector light beams based on a few-mode fiber amplifier[J]. Photonics Research, 2021, 9(5): 856
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