Abstract

High-power optical vortex lasers have been opening up new applications, such as material processing [1], plasma physics, and nonlinear optics. A side-pumped Nd-doped vanadate bounce laser, in which a limiting aperture for the desired vortex mode in the gain medium is formed by utilizing mode-dependent thermal-lens effects of the laser material, is a promising solution to generate a high-power optical vortex output at a high efficiency in continuous-wave and Q-switched pulse regimes. To date, we have successfully demonstrated an ultra-high-power vortex output at 1.06 μm and 1.3 μm from diode-pumped Nd doped vanadate bounce amplifiers. However, selective control of the rotational direction of the vortex output provided from the bounce laser has never been discussed, so far.

© 2011 Optical Society of America