Abstract
Conical refraction (CR) is a long known, however practically forgotten fundamental optical effect [1-4]. This effect was first predicted by W.R. Hamilton as a new property of the Fresnel wave surface, which predicts that if a narrow beam enters a biaxial crystal along one of the optical axes, it will evolve as a hollow slanted cone, and on the exit surface of the crystal will refract as a hollow tube [1]. The effect was first experimentally demonstrated using a natural biaxial crystal and sunlight by H. Lloyd [2]. Modern synthetic crystals as well as crystal cutting and polishing technology have advanced to a stage where producing a crystal with the correct orientation is now readily possible [5]. Recently an CR Yb:KGd(WO4)2 (Yb:KGW) laser crystal in a simple cavity configuration achieving continues polarisation tuning without any additional polarising elements in the cavity was demonstrated [6].
© 2009 IEEE
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