Generation of a radially polarized laser beam by use of the birefringence of a c-cut Nd:YVO4 crystal

We demonstrated the generation of a radially polarized laser beam from an extremely simple laser resonator including a c-cut Nd:YVO4 crystal as a laser medium. The oscillation in the radial polarization was based on the optical path difference between an extraordinary ray and an ordinary ray induced by the birefringence of the crystal. By simply adjusting the distance between two cavity mirrors, only the extraordinary ray became stable for the oscillation, resulting in the generation of a radially polarized beam. The beam was very stable even at low power output and is expected to be a promising radially polarized laser source because of its excellent simplicity.     

Radially polarized laser beam from a Nd:YAG laser cavity with a c-cut YVO4 crystal

We demonstrate the generation of a radially polarized beam by simply inserting an undoped c-cut YVO₄ crystal into a Nd:YAG laser cavity. In a hemispherical cavity, the cylindrically symmetric, positive birefringence of the YVO₄ crystal extends the stability limit of the cavity length for an extraordinary ray (radial polarization) compared to an ordinary one (azimuthal polarization). By adjusting the cavity length, a radially polarized beam with an output power up to 1 W was selectively obtained. In addition, a higher-order transverse mode was also generated by arranging the cavity design. The method demonstrated in this paper can be readily applied to laser systems with an isotropic laser medium. PACS 42.60.Da; 42.25.Lc; 42.25.Ja     

Generation of a radially polarized laser beam by use of a conical Brewster prism

To generate a radially polarized laser beam we designed and fabricated a new Brewster optical element that consists of convex and concave conical prisms. The lateral surface of the convex conical prism was coated with a dielectric multilayer (SiO2 and Ta2O5) to enhance polarization selectivity. By combining two prisms we obtained a conical Brewster prism without beam divergence owing to refraction. A radially polarized TEM01* (R-TEM01*) mode laser beam was demonstrated when this prism was used inside a Nd:YAG laser cavity.     

Sharply focusing a radially polarized laser beam using a gradient Mikaelian’s microlens

Focusing a radially polarized annular Gaussian beam with a gradient Mikaelian’s microlens is simulated using a radial version of the FDTD method (finite-difference time domain), in which Maxwell’s equations in the cylindrical coordinates are solved in the MATLAB 7.0 environment. We show that the focal spot size (the area with larger-than half-maximum intensity) can be made as small as 0.126λ², with focal spot diameter being 0.40λ.     

Low-diffraction direct particle acceleration by a radially polarized laser beam

Two constants of the motion, which simplify the relativistic particle dynamics in a laser beam of radial polarization, are identified. Many-particle simulations based on the reduced set of equations of motion in a beam of relativistic intensity, demonstrate acceleration in vacuum to GeV energies of electrons, alpha particles and oxygen bare nuclei. The axially-injected particles are shown to be accelerated with negligible diffraction.     

Mono-energetic GeV electrons from ionization in a radially polarized laser beam

Fields of a radially polarized laser beam developed recently [Y. I. Salamin, Opt. Lett.31, 2619 (2006)] are employed to show that electrons produced by atomic ionization near the focus may be accelerated to GeV energies. Conditions for producing a mono-energetic and well-collimated electron beam are discussed.     

Generation of an axially super-resolved quasi-spherical focal spot using an amplitude-modulated radially polarized beam

An axially super-resolved quasi-spherical focal spot can be generated by focusing an amplitude-modulated radially polarized beam through a high numerical aperture objective. A method based on the unique depolarization properties of a circular focus is proposed to design the amplitude modulation. The generated focal spot shows a ratio of x:y:z=1:1:1.48 for the normalized FWHM in three dimensions, compared to that of x:y:z=1:0.74:1.72 under linear polarization (in the x direction) illumination. Moreover, the focusable light efficiency of the designed amplitude-modulated beam is 65%, which is more than 3 times higher than the optimized case under linear polarization and thus make the amplitude-modulated radial polarization beam more suitable for a wide range of applications.     

Generation of radially polarized mode in Yb fiber laser by using a dual conical prism

For the first time to our knowledge, a radially polarized beam is generated in an Yb-doped multimode double-clad fiber laser by using an intracavity dual conical prism. Up to 6.2 mW of output power is obtained from a 2 m long gain fiber with 7.4% slope efficiency. This research opens a new window to obtaining a radially polarized beam directly from an active fiber.     

Fields of a radially polarized Gaussian laser beam beyond the paraxial approximation

Analytic expressions for the fields of a tightly focused radially polarized Gaussian laser beam are derived, accurate to epsilon5, where epsilon is the associated diffraction angle. The fields satisfy Maxwell's equations, and the calculated beam power based on them is significantly different from that of the paraxial-approximation fields.     

Generation of the fourth harmonic of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser

A high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser system operating, for the first time to our knowledge, in the spectral region near 200 nm is described. Frequency quadrupling of a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser results in maximum average powers of 6 mW (165-fs pulses) and 15 mW (340-fs pulses) at 82 MHz. The shortest wavelength achieved is 193.7 nm.     

Generation of radially polarized beams using spatial light modulator

Radially polarized beams have attracted much attention and found many applications in many optical systems, recently. And generation of radially polarized beams is necessary for experimental research and applications. In this paper, a kind of generation method was proposed. Two beams are obtained by spatial light modulator and pi phase plate, and then interfere to form desirable radially polarized beams. Experimental results show that radially polarized beams are higher property, which shows this kind of interferential generation of radially polarized laser beams work effectively.     

Focusing property of a double-ring-shaped radially polarized beam

The intensity distributions of a tightly focused radially polarized beam that has a double-ring-shaped transverse mode pattern were calculated based on vector diffraction theory. The distribution of the longitudinal component near the focus varied drastically with the degree of truncation of the incident beam by a pupil. When the ratio of the pupil radius to the beam radius was approximately 1.3, the longitudinal component disappeared at the focal point, owing to destructive interference. This dark area surrounded by an intense light field was of the order of the wavelength, with excellent intensity symmetry.     

Generation of synchronized femtosecond and picosecond laser pulses in a two-beam-pumped Ti:sapphire laser

<正>Two operating modes,independent self-mode-locking and cross-mode-locking,are presented in a two-beampumped double-cavity dual-wavelength femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser.Synchronization of femtosecond and picosecond laser pulses is achieved by properly adjusting the cavity length matching and distributing the pump laser powers in the two laser cavities,and moreover,a timing jitter of 517 fs between femtosecond and picosecond pulses is obtained,with wavelength tuning ranges around 36 and 22 nm in the femtosecond and picosecond cavities,respectively.     

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.     

Sharper focus for a radially polarized light beam

We experimentally demonstrate for the first time that a radially polarized field can be focused to a spot size significantly smaller [0.16(1)lambda(2)] than for linear polarization (0.26lambda(2)). The effect of the vector properties of light is shown by a comparison of the focal intensity distribution for radially and azimuthally polarized input fields. For strong focusing, a radially polarized field leads to a longitudinal electric field component at the focus which is sharp and centered at the optical axis. The relative contribution of this component is enhanced by using an annular aperture.     

Optical guiding of a radially polarized laser beam for inverseCherenkov acceleration in a plasma channel

In a conventional inverse Cherenkov accelerator (ICA), the background neutral gas provides the necessary dispersion to maintain the synchronism between the drive laser and the accelerated electrons. A laser-driven ICA is susceptible to diffraction, and the acceleration length is limited to approximately a Rayleigh range (for a Gaussian beam). In this paper, an ICA configuration is proposed that avoids the laser diffraction limitation by employing a preformed plasma channel. It is shown that a radially polarized laser beam can be optically guided if the plasma density increases with radius-like r². Expressions for the guided axial and radial components of the laser field are derived, and a numerical example is discussed     

Theoretical studies on beam parameters of a self－start ring cavity Ti：sapphire laser

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Efficient conversion of a radially polarized beam to a nearly Gaussian beam

We demonstrate an efficient method for transformation of a radially polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam to a nearly Gaussian beam with much higher beam quality. The method is based on separation of the radially polarized mode into two degenerate modes and coherent addition of the modes after phase flattening. We transformed a high-power Nd:YAG radially polarized (0,1)(*) Laguerre-Gaussian beam with M(2)=2.52 and power of 30 W into a nearly Gaussian beam with M(2)=1.3. As a result, the brightness increased by a factor of approximately 2.5.     

Single higher-order transverse mode operation of a radially polarized Nd:YAG laser using an annularly reflectivity-modulated photonic crystal coupler

We demonstrate single higher-order transverse mode operation of a radially polarized Nd:YAG laser by using a polarization-selective and reflectivity-modulated output coupler. A narrow annular region with low reflectivity fabricated in a photonic crystal mirror behaves so as to select a higher-order transverse mode of a cylindrically symmetric laser beam. A double-ring-shaped radially polarized TM(02) mode beam is stably generated.     

Generation of 0.66-TW pulses at 1 kHz by a Ti:sapphire laser

A 1-kHz, 0.66-TW Ti:sapphire laser has been developed. We obtained 21-fs, 14-mJ pulses with an extraction efficiency of 32% in the final amplifier. The dispersion through the system was successfully compensated for by insertion of a pair of prisms in a regenerative amplifier. The pulses were characterized by frequency-resolved optical gating and were in good agreement with dispersion calculated by three-dimensional ray tracing.