High-energy 2 µm pulsed vortex beam excitation from a Q-switched Tm:LuYAG laser
Abstract
We report on the first, to the best of our knowledge, direct generation of pulsed vortex beams at 2 µm from a Q -switched Tm:LuYAG laser. High-energy Laguerre–Gaussian ( L G 0 , l ) pulsed laser beams with well-defined handedness are selectively excited through spatially matched pump gain distribution and asymmetric cavity loss without using any intracavity handedness-selective optical elements. Pulse energies of 1.48 mJ for the L G 0 , + 1 mode and 1.51 mJ for the L G 0 , − 1 mode, respectively, are achieved at a repetition rate of 500 Hz. The pulsed laser beams with helical wavefronts are potentially useful for studying orbital angular momentum transformation dynamics, generation of mid-IR vortex beams, and nanostructuring of organic materials.
- Publication:
-
Optics Letters
- Pub Date:
- February 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1364/OL.384201
- Bibcode:
- 2020OptL...45..722C