The behavior of the optical vortices with fractional topological charges in the far-field is assessed through numerical modeling and confirmed by experimental results. The generation of fractional topological charge variations of the phase within a Gaussian beam was achieved by using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LCoS SLM). It is shown that a laser beam carrying an optical vortex with a fractional topological charge evolves into a beam with a topological charge of integer value, specifically an integer value closer to the fractional number in the far field. A potential application of this work is for data transmission within optical telecommunication systems.

Date Published: 25 September 2014
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9194, Laser Beam Shaping XV, 91940V (25 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2062048

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9194:
Laser Beam Shaping XV
Andrew Forbes; Todd E. Lizotte, Editor(s)