Abstract

Vortex lasers was generated from a degenerate optical resonator with an intra-cavity spiral phase plate (SPP). The rays retracing skewed v-shaped paths in the resonator are phase-locked to form vortex laser with wavefront dislocation mirroring the topological charge of the SPP. It lases in random polarization when pump power went above 1.52W and the slope efficiency was 0.19. For long-term operations a power fluctuation of 2.2% and pointing stability of 2.6µrads was measured. This system also serve an useful platform to study the laser dynamics and to combine radiations coherently.

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