Generation of a hollow laser beam by a multimode fiber

A simple method to generate a hollow laser beam by multimode fiber is reported. A dark hollow laser beam is generated from a multimode fiber and the dependence of the output beam profile on the incident angle of laser beam is analyzed. The results show that this hollow laser beam can be used to trap and guide cold atoms.     

Generation of diffraction-free vectorial elliptic hollow beams with space-varying inhomogeneous polarizations

Diffraction-free vectorial elliptic hollow beams (vEHBs) are generated by an optical system composed of a short elliptic hollow fiber (EHF) and an axicon. Each beam has a closed elliptic annular intensity profile and space-varying polarization states in its diffraction-free distance of more than 1 m. The generated beams have a counter-clockwise or clockwise periodically-rotated inhomogeneous polarization. And the spin angular momentum (SAM) of the vEHBs is 1ħ or -1ħ which is consistent with the type of dual-mode in the EHF and the periodic polarization rotations of the vEHBs. The vEHBs have potential applications in optically trapping and micromanipulating the micro- or nano-particles, quantum information transmission, and Bose-Einstein condensates, etc.     

Generation of a vectorial Mathieu-like hollow beam with a periodically rotated polarization property

We propose a promising and practical scheme to generate a vectorial Mathieu-like hollow beam (vMHB) by using an axicon optical system including a dual-mode elliptic hollow fiber (EHF), and calculate the intensity and polarization distributions of the beam and its fractional orbital angular momentum (OAM). We also fit its intensity profile and obtain suitable theoretical expressions to describe three-dimensional (3D) propagation characteristics of such a Mathieu-like hollow beam. Our study shows that the generated beam is a vMHB within the propagation distance 1.2-2.2 m, which has an unchanged (diffraction-free) intensity profile and periodically rotated polarization properties as well as an unchanged fractional OAM within 1.2-2.2 m.     

Generation of an elliptic Bessel beam

In an elliptic coordinate system the solution for a diffraction-free beam is given by a Mathieu beam, which is mathematically complicated and therefore takes considerable computational time and a large memory space. A technique is reported for the generation of elliptic hollow beams, which are actually scaled versions of higher-order Bessel beams. The analysis is based on the fact that stretching coordinates in the space domain results in a contraction of the coordinates in the frequency domain, along with a change in the overall amplitude of the spectrum. The beam, produced holographically, is structurally stable and retains its shape up to approximately 1 m.     

Generation of a high-quality partially coherent dark hollow beam with a multimode fiber

We report the experimental generation of a high-quality partially coherent dark hollow beam (DHB) by coupling a partially coherent beam into a multimode fiber (MMF) with a suitable incidence angle. The interference experiment of the generated partially coherent DHB passing through double slits is demonstrated. It is found that the coupling efficiency of the MMF, the quality, and the coherence of the generated partially coherent DHB are closely controlled by the coherence of the input beam.     

Analytical vectorial structure of an apertured hollow Gaussian beam in the far field

Based on the vector angular-spectrum and the complex Gaussian expansion of the aperture function, the structure of an apertured hollow Gaussian beam in the far field is given in a integral form. In virtue of the method of stationary phase approximation, the analytical vectorial structures are derived. Starting from the analytical expressions, the propagation properties of apertured hollow Gaussian beams with different order in the far field are illustrated graphically. In addition, the influence of the truncation parameter on far field distribution is studied detailedly. This research can shed light on the further understanding of the vectorial property of an apertured hollow Gaussian beam.     

Generation of dark hollow beam by use of phase-only filtering

A simple but effective scheme to generate dark hollow beams is proposed by use of phase-only filtering and optical Fourier transform. A Gaussian beam of fundamental mode is modulated by a pre-designed phase mask, which is a piecewise modification of an axicon lens, and followed by a Fourier transform to generate an ideal dark hollow beam at the focal plane. This method has an advantage that the total energy of the beam is conserved under paraxial approximation. Numerical calculations are provided to show the validity of the proposed scheme.     

Analytical vectorial structure of the anomalous hollow beam in the far field

On the basis of the vector angular spectrum representation of the Maxwell equations and the method of stationary phase, the analytical vectorial structure of an anomalous hollow beam in free space is presented. The energy flux distributions of the anomalous hollow beam, its TE and TM terms in the far field are investigated. The analytical results are analyzed with numerical examples.     

Generation of a hollow Gaussian beam and its anomalous behavior

I attempted to produce a laser beam with no light in the central line of the beam, by Fresnel diffraction of the Gaussian beam by a spiral zone plate (SZP). The study imparts an arbitrary-order phase singularity on the light field. The experimental results show that the optical vortex radius depends on the singularity’s integer order n (also termed topological charge, or order of the dislocation). Also, the radius of maximum intensity is shown to depend on the singularity number. Anomalous behavior of the spectra at phase singularity produced by various zone plates near the focus of a converging Gaussian beam is also studied using a simple experimental technique. It is found that the spectrum of the beam on the SZP (spiral zone plate) consisting of a single spectral profile shows almost vanishing intensity at all frequencies with a tendency of splitting into two peaks at the on-axis point and shows redshift and blueshift around the phase singularity. A comparative study of the anomalous behavior of the spectra at phase singularity produced by various SZPs, with varying phase singularity order n, near the focus of a converging Gaussian laser beam is studied.     

Silver-halide fiber tip as a beam homogenizer for infrared hollow waveguides

A beam-homogenizing device consisting of a short tip of silver-halide infrared fiber eliminates the low-order multimode effect generated by bending of hollow guides. A series of experiments with a CO(2) laser shows that the solid fiber functions as a homogenizer with a small insertion loss of 0.2dB.     

Generation of a hollow dark spherical spot by 4pi focusing of a radially polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam

The properties of the focal spot for 4pi focusing with radially polarized first-order Laguerre-Gaussian beams are calculated. It is shown that a focal spot that has an extremely sharp dark region at the center and an almost-perfect spherical symmetry can be achieved. When such a hollow dark spherical spot is used in 4pi fluorescence depletion microscopy, an axial FWHM spot size of approximately 39 nm and a transverse FWHM spot size of approximately 64 nm can be achieved simultaneously in a practical system.     

Calculation of the vectorial field distribution of an axicon illuminated by a linearly polarized Guassian beam

An analytical expression describing the vectorial field distribution of Gaussian light beams diffracted by an axicon is obtained. The theoretical analysis and simulation calculation show that for the linearly x-polarized light incident on an axicon, the y-component of the diffraction field is very small and the x-component dominates. The intensity of the z-component along the propagation direction is related with the open angle and index of axicon. The open angle plays the more important role in determining the polarization than does the index. For a small open angle, the z-polarized effect can be neglected and the scalar method is simple and valid to evaluating the diffraction field distribution of axicon. However, the vectorial method has to be used for great open angle.     

Generation of bottle beam by focusing a super-Gaussian beam using a lens and an axicon

This study explores the characteristics of the bottle beams that are formed by super-Gaussian beams that impinge through an axicon and a positive lens. Analytical solutions for the on-axial intensity of Gaussian and apertured-plane beams were obtained. The barrier around the dark region has a larger variation of intensity for higher-order super-Gaussian profiles. Flattening the tops of the profiles increases the bottle lengths for a fixed second-order moment width or distance between the axicon and the lens.     

Application of a fully vectorial beam propagation method

A new vectorial beam propagation method has successfully been applied to a passive polarization splitter and a passive polarization converter on InGaAsP/InP. The propagating fields are calculated and the power attenuation is evaluated. The calculated crosstalk values of the splitter are in good agreement with the realized best performance. A complete polarization conversion in the converter has also been simulated. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Induced focusing and conversion of a Gaussian beam into an elliptic Gaussian beam

We have presented an investigation of the induced focusing in Kerr media of two laser beams, the pump beam and the probe beam, which could be either Gaussian or elliptic Gaussian or a combination of the two. We have used variational formalism to derive relevant beam-width equations. Among several important findings, the finding that a very week probe beam can be guided and focused when power of both beams are well below their individual threshold for self-focusing, is a noteworthy one. It has been found that induced focusing is not possible for laser beams of any wavelength and beam radius. In case both beams are elliptic Gaussian, we have shown that when power of both beams is above a certain threshold value then the effective radius of both beams collapses and collapse distance depends on power. Moreover, it has been found that induced focusing can be employed to convert a circular Gaussian beam into an elliptic Gaussian beam.     

非傍轴矢量异常空心光束的传输特性

 将Cai提出的异常空心光束的理论模型推广到非傍轴范畴,推导出非傍轴矢量异常空心光束传输的解析表达式,用以研究它在自由空间中的传输特性。研究表明,异常空心光束在传输过程中光束形状会发生变化。与高斯光束不同,非傍轴异常空心光束傍轴近似成立条件依赖于传输距离,这与异常空心光束光强分布随传输距离的变化有关。非傍轴异常空心光束远场的光束质量可用桶中功率来描述,桶中功率随f参数(波长与束腰宽度的比值)的增大而减小。     

用线偏振光产生可调矢量椭圆空心光束

提出了利用π相位板产生矢量空心光束的新方案,两个偏振方向互相垂直的线偏振光波分别通过π相位板调制后进行强度叠加,得到椭圆空心光束,用矩形光阑调节相位板的几何尺寸,可以实时调节椭圆的离心率;调节π相位板的方位,能够实现径向矢量空心光束到角向矢量空心光束的转换。分析、讨论了方案的可行性和在原子光学中的潜在应用,结果表明:本方案在原子光学中有很好的应用前景。     

Research on taper zone coupling from single-core fiber to annular-core hollow beam fiber

Optical Review - We designed and manufactured a novel annular-core hollow beam fiber which could directly yield ring light with a central dark spot inside the beam employing MCVD technique and a...