Production of radially or azimuthally polarized beams in solid-state lasers and the elimination of thermally induced birefringence effects

Production and amplification of radially and azimuthally (tangentially) polarized laser beams are demonstrated. Based on the different focusing between radially and tangentially polarized light in thermally stressed isotropic laser rods, Nd:YAG laser oscillators were developed to produce low-loss stable oscillation in a single polarization. Pure radially polarized light at 70 W with M2 = 2 and on-axis impure radially polarized light at 150 W with M2 = 2.5 were achieved. The radially polarized beams were then amplified while good beam quality and polarization purity were retained. Complete elimination of thermal-birefringence-induced aberrations was demonstrated. This should allow much better beam quality from rod-based high-power lasers.     

Generation of azimuthally and radially polarized beams by coherent polarization beam combination

A new architecture for generating pure azimuthally and radially polarized beams is presented. It involves coherent polarization beam combination of two orthogonally polarized LP(11) fiber modes. Experimental results reveal that high purely polarized (polarization purity of 95% or better) azimuthal and radial beams can be generated.     

基于少模光纤被动调Q柱矢量光光纤激光器

通过单模光纤和少模光纤熔融拉锥耦合的方法制备出模式转换器,而后将一层多壁的碳纳米管薄膜作为可饱和吸收体覆盖到拉锥光纤的锥区,形成一种可饱和吸收体柱矢量光器件.结合调Q光纤激光器和模式转换器件的优势,可以简单高效地产生脉冲柱矢量光束,并得到具有峰值功率高、模式纯度高等特点的脉冲高阶模式激光输出.通过实验实现了中心波长为1560nm、最大单脉冲能量和最大峰值功率分别为116nJ和57mW的稳定调Q脉冲输出.通过调节光路中的偏振控制器,可以分别实现径向和角向偏振的调Q脉冲激光的输出.     

Passively Q-switched cylindrical vector laser based on a black phosphorus saturable absorber

We demonstrate an all-fiber Q-switched cylindrical vector laser based on a black phosphorus saturable absorber and a transverse mode converter. The saturable absorber is prepared by incorporating the polyvinyl alcohol with anti-oxidized black phosphorus nanosheets exfoliated in aqueous poly(dimethyldiallyl ammonium chloride)solution. The mode converter is composed of a tapered two-mode fiber and a single-mode fiber, and it can excite switchable azimuthally and radially polarized beams by modulating the input polarization. By enhancing the pump power from 64.68 to 174.82 mW, the repetition rate of the Q-switched azimuthally/radially polarized laser enlarges from 16.72/19.25 to 30.71/37.82 kHz.     

Efficient extracavity generation of radially and azimuthally polarized beams

We demonstrate an efficient transformation of a linearly polarized Gaussian beam to a radially or an azimuthally polarized doughnut (0,1)* Laguerre-Gaussian beam of high purity. We use a spatially variable retardation plate, composed of eight sectors of a lambda/2 retardation plate, to transform a linear polarization distribution to radial/azimuthal distribution. We transformed an Nd:YAG Gaussian beam with M(2)=1.3 to a radially and azimuthally polarized (0,1)* Laguerre-Gaussian beams with M(2)=2.5 and degree of radial/azimuthal polarization of 96-98%.     

Radially and azimuthally polarized beams generated by space-variant dielectric subwavelength gratings

We present a novel method for forming radially and azimuthally polarized beams by using computer-generated subwavelength dielectric gratings. The elements were deposited upon GaAs substrates and produced beams with a polarization purity of 99.2% at a wavelength of 10.6 microm . We have verified the polarization properties with full space-variant polarization analysis and measurement, and we show that such beams have certain vortexlike properties and that they carry angular momentum.     

Mode-locked pulse generation from an all-FMF ring laser cavity

Experimental generation of stable mode-locked pulses and cylindrical vector beams(CVBs), from an all fewmode fiber(FMF) ring laser is first reported, to the best of our knowledge. In this laser, a section of few-mode erbium-doped fiber(FM-EDF) is used as the gain medium. The FM-EDF is pumped by 976 nm laser with LP11 mode, which is simultaneously converted and multiplexed through a homemade hybrid device, i.e., wavelength division multiplexing-mode selection coupler(WDM-MSC). All the components in our experiment are connected using FMF. The resulted CVB pulses have a spectral width of 0.33 nm with a repetition rate of 30.58 MHz under the pump power of 340 m W. Moreover, both azimuthally and radially polarized CVBs were achieved with a high purity of 95%. This mode-locked CVB fiber laser with an all FMF configuration opens the way to manipulate the transverse mode in mode-locked fiber lasers.     

Manipulation of the overall polarization orientation in the focal volume of high numerical objectives

We propose an approach for tuning the three-dimensional polarization of a focusing subwavelength spot by a high numerical aperture objective. The incident beams are composed of a radially polarized beam, an azimuthally polarized beam, and a linearly polarized beam with three different weighting factors, respectively. A specially designed adjustable amplitude angular selector is also inserted at the back aperture of the objective for tuning the polarization azimuthally. It is shown that any desired overall polarization orientation can be obtained. We calculated the overall polarization orientation in the focal volume. It is found that the polar angle of the overall polarization orientation can be arbitrarily tuned by the combination of a radially polarized beam and a linearly polarized beam with different weighting factors, and the azimuthal angle can be tuned by rotating the orientation of the linearly polarized beam azimuthally.     

Radially polarized and passively Q-switched fiber laser

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, a radially polarized and passively Q-switched Yb-doped fiber laser. By using a Cr(4+):YAG crystal as a saturable absorber and a photonic crystal grating as a polarization mirror, a radially polarized pulse is produced, which has 202 W of peak power, 75 ns duration, and ~92% polarization purity at a 56.6 kHz repetition rate. The Q-switched pulse with radial polarization from the fiber laser would facilitate numerous applications.     

Generation of radially polarized light beams of high quality using a step-index optical fiber

We present an experimental setup to generate radially polarized beams without using high-cost optical elements. In the setup a four-segment polarization converter is used in front of the fiber to produce a pseudo radially polarized beam. A traditional step-index fiber which supports only LP₀₁ and LP₁₁ modes is then used as a mode-cleaning device. A commercial mechanical fiber-squeezer polarization controller is applied to produce adequate pressure and twist onto the fiber. The four-segment polarization converter and the fiber squeezer polarization controller are adjusted by turns for improving the beam quality in intensity and polarization. Additionally, several methods of characterizing the polarization properties of radially polarized beams are reviewed. One of the latest methods is applied for characterizing the polarization properties of the radially polarized beams produced by using our technique. The results show the highquality of the obtained beams.     

基于内腔布儒斯特双轴锥棱镜的掺镱光纤激光器的径向偏振模振荡

实验采用一个内腔布儒斯特双轴锥棱镜,在掺镱多模双包层光纤激光器中实现了径向偏振光振荡,并在长2 m的增益光纤中获得了高达6.2 mW的功率输出.研究揭示了从光纤激光器振荡中获得径向偏振光的新途径.然而,该激光器输出的径向偏振光的光强分布并不很均匀,且偏振消光比较低,需要进一步改进.     

STED microscopy based on axially symmetric polarized vortex beams

A stimulated emission depletion(STED) microscopy scheme using axially symmetric polarized vortex beams is proposed based on unique focusing properties of such kinds of beams. The concept of axially symmetric polarized vortex beams is first introduced, and the basic principle about the scheme is described. Simulation results for several typical beams are then shown, including radially polarized vortex beams, azimuthally polarized vortex beams, and high-order axially symmetric polarized vortex beams. The results indicate that sharper doughnut spots and thus higher resolutions can be achieved, showing more flexibility than previous schemes based on flexible modulation of both phase and polarization for incident beams.     

Self-focusing dynamics of polarization vortices in Kerr media

We investigate numerically and experimentally the spatial collapse dynamics and polarization stability of radially and azimuthally polarized vortex beams in pure Kerr medium. These beams are unstable to azimuthal modulation instabilities and break up into distinct collapsing filaments. The polarization of the filaments is primarily linear with weak circular components at the filaments' boundaries. This unique hybrid linear-circular polarization collapse pattern persists to advanced stages of collapse and appears to be a general feature of beams with spatially variant linear polarization.     

Vortex solitons with inhomogeneous polarization in nonlocal self-focusing nonlinear media

Both azimuthally and radially polarized vortex solitons are investigated to be able to exist in highly nonlocal nonlinear media. We get exactly analytical solutions of azimuthally polarized vortex solitons with only polarization singularities and radially polarized vortex solitons with both phase singularities and polarization singularities. Both azimuthally and radially polarized vortex solitons can exist in nonlocal self-focusing nonlinear media with proper modulation of the beam power and the degree of nonlocality. Contrary to those of radially polarized counterparts in local Kerr media, the topological charge can be any integer. When the topological charge m ≠ 0, both phase singularities and polarization singularities work. When m = 0, the polarization singularities work. Azimuthally polarized vortex solitons with polarization singularities corresponds to the linearly polarized vortex solitons with single charge. Our results show that polarization singularities work the same way as phase singularities in some sense.     

High power linearly polarized Raman fiber laser at 1120 nm

An all-fiber linearly polarized Raman fiber laser at 1120 nm is demonstrated. With a 1 070-nm linearly polarized Yb-doped fiber laser as pump source, an output of up to 7.7 W at 1120 nm is obtained with an optical efficiency of 55%. The polarization extinction ratio of the linearly polarized Raman fiber is higher than 18 dB. A numerical simulation model is developed to determine the Raman coefficient of the gain fiber and to evaluate the laser performance. The spectral isolation between the Raman fiber laser and the pump fiber laser is determined to be necessary for further improvements of performance.     

Natural shaping of the cylindrically polarized beams

We have experimentally and theoretically shown that the circularly polarized beam bearing a singly charged optical vortex propagating through a uniaxial crystal can be split after focusing into the radially and azimuthally polarized beams in the vicinity of the focal area provided that the polarization handedness and the vortex topological charge have opposite signs.     

Optical trapping of gold nanoparticles by cylindrical vector beam

Optical trapping of gold nanoparticles is experimentally demonstrated using radially and azimuthally polarized beams. The transverse optical trapping stiffness of gold nanoparticles is measured. The radially polarized beam exhibits a higher trapping efficiency than the azimuthally polarized beam and the Gaussian beam. The transverse stiffness of particles with different diameters is measured experimentally and calculated via the discrete-dipole approximation method, and good agreement between theory and experiment is found.     

Forces in optical tweezers with radially and azimuthally polarized trapping beams

It has been suggested that radially polarized beams can be used to improve the performance of optical tweezers, with reduced scattering force resulting from both the polarization and the dark center of the beam [Opt. Lett. 32, 1839 (2007)]. We calculate the forces on particles in such traps, using rigorous electromagnetic theory, comparing the results with azimuthally polarized beam, circularly polarized LG 01 beams, and Gaussian beams. Our results agree qualitatively with Opt. Lett. 32, 1839 (2007), but differ quantitatively.     

Two-dimensional polarization distribution controller based on variable retarder array

Two-dimensional polarization distribution controller which can transform linearly polarized beam into two-dimensional polarization distributed beam has been presented and investigated. The two-dimensional polarization distribution controller consists of two quarter-wave plates and a variable retarder array. The principles of the two-dimensional polarization distribution controller are analyzed and calculated results show when the directions of fast axes of these three components meet a particular constraint equation set, these three optical components could be regarded as a two-dimensional polarization distribution controller. Experiments have been carried out, and the light intensity distribution of radially and azimuthally polarized beams after an analyzer are obtained.     

Propagation and parametric characterization of the polarization structure of paraxial radially and azimuthally polarized beams

Analytical expressions are provided for describing the free-space evolution of the polarization structure of paraxial beams whose electric-field vector at some transverse plane exhibits either a radially or an azimuthally polarized behavior. At each transverse plane, the polarization distribution across the beam profile is characterized by means of two sets of parameters, namely, the so-called (local) radial Stokes representation, and the (overall) percentage of the irradiance associated with the radial and azimuthal field components. The propagation laws for these sets of parameters are also shown. As an illustrative example, a radially polarized beam is analized whose wavefront contains a spiral phase factor.