| | |
Summary: Creation of Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes using diffractive optics
Sharon A. Kennedy, Matthew J. Szabo, Hilary Teslow, James Z. Porterfield, and E. R. I. Abraham
University of Oklahoma, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 440 West Brooks Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73019
Received 16 April 2002; published 4 October 2002
Diffractive optics are used to create low- and high-order Laguerre-Gaussian LG beams from the output of
a diode laser. We examine the mode purities, conversion efficiencies, extinction ratios, and propagation char-
acteristics. We present detailed analyses of the beam profiles for one low-order (LG0
1
) and one high-order
(LG1
2
) Laguerre-Gaussian mode. Modeling the LG1
2
beam as a superposition of LG modes, we find (99.3
0.9%) of the laser intensity in the LG1
2
mode, a mode purity greater than for LG beams created by other
methods external to the laser cavity. The high mode purity may be useful in making atom traps for precision
measurements and for Bose-Einstein condensation.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.66.043801 PACS number s : 42.60.Jf, 32.80.Pj, 42.50.Vk
|
