We apply mode transformation to an Yb fiber laser for direct generation of a first order vortex mode (LG01), yielding LG01 power of 5W at 96 % purity (from modal decomposition) with 16W pumping. The laser used standard single mode Yb doped fibers operating at 1064 nm. A free-space Sagnac interferometer formed one reflector of the cavity by feeding back the internal Gaussian mode of the fiber laser and output coupling a LG01 via interferometric mode transformation. It was stable over hours of operation and days of inactivity, and was insensitive to polarisation. The maximum output power was only limited through heating of a optical element, which could be mitigated with thermal management. We also show that additional spiral phase plates (SPPs) are a route to higher purity, higher order vortex modes than with SPPs alone due to improved intensity matching between LG01 and higher order states.
Vortex lasers are an attractive prospect for efficient generation of high-quality beams in compact, environmentally robust, and turnkey systems. We demonstrate conversion of a Q-switched, diode-pumped Nd:YVO4, TEM00 Gaussian laser into a vortex laser source by replacing the output coupling mirror by a vortex output coupler (VOC) based on an imbalanced Sagnac interferometer. The Q-switched VOC laser generated a vortex output with 5.1 W average power, slope efficiency of 46% at 150 kHz pulse repetition rate, only marginally lower than the 5.4 W and 49% slope efficiency of the plane mirror laser. Vortex handedness was switchable with a single VOC control without loss of vortex power. In both handedness cases the vortex mode quality was assessed to be excellent by detailed analysis of vortex phase profile and propagation characteristics and comparison to an ideal vortex. The power scaling potential of the VOC was demonstrated in a higher power cavity, achieving a vortex output power of 14.3 W and a slope efficiency of 55%. Further investigation verified the ability for the VOC laser to self-mode-filter the intracavity mode, showing maintenance of high TEM00 quality even after introducing deliberate mode to pump size mismatch, when the equivalent plane mirror laser becomes multimode. This work highlights the potential of the VOC as a simple route to high powered structured light sources using just standard high-power handling mirror components and its self-mode-filtering property to compensate intra-cavity spatial mode degradation when power-scaling.
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