Open AccessRobust laser beam engineering using polarization and angular momentum diversity
Author(s) -
Priyanka Lochab,
P. Senthilkumaran,
Kedar Khare
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.25.017524
Subject(s) - optics , polarization (electrochemistry) , diffraction , angular momentum , physics , laser , beam (structure) , laser beam quality , laser beams , quantum mechanics , chemistry
We describe a laser beam engineered to carry l = 0 and l = 1 orbital angular momentum (OAM) states in orthogonal polarizations. It is observed that on collinear transmission through a random phase screen, the far field diffraction intensity patterns for the individual polarization states are complementary with significant negative correlation. As a result the combined intensity profile for the beam remains robust against time varying phase fluctuations. In our simulation and experiment the SNR for the central lobe of the combined far-field diffraction pattern defined as mean divided by the standard deviation of intensity values shows significant improvement over that for individual polarizations. The concept of polarization and OAM diversity as demonstrated here can be considered valuable for robust laser beam engineering without the requirement of any active real-time correction methods.