Generation of regular optical vortex arrays using double gratings

Abstract:

In order to generate high quality regular optical vortex array (OVA), we present an experimental method for generating OVA using phase only liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) assisted two gratings. In the scheme, holograms of two grating are displayed on the screen of two LC-SLMs respectively; the diffraction optical fields are captured by a CCD camera. The simulated and experimental results show that the regular OVA can be generated by using double diffraction gratings. The generated OVAs have a constant topological charge of ±1. The method can provide a useful pathway to produce regular OVA for some applications in optical communication, particle trapping and optical metrology.