Abstract

We report on the generation of high-power ultrashort-pulsed optical vortex beams (VBs) with orbital angular momentum (OAM) of +1 in the infrared (IR) and +2 in the visible (VIS) spectral regions. The IR vortex beam was created from a Gaussian beam by employing a nanograting (S-waveplate) mode converter. With this approach we obtained an average power of up to 802 W at a wavelength of λ = 1030 nm in the IR-VB with a pulse energy of 802 µJ, a pulse duration of 460 fs, and a mode-conversion efficiency of 90.1%. By subsequent second harmonic generation, the IR-VB was frequency-doubled inside a lithium triborate (LiB₃O₅) crystal. An average power of up to 320 W at λ = 515 nm was generated, with 320 µJ of pulse energy, 382 fs of pulse duration, and an IR-VB to SH-VB conversion efficiency of 39.9%. The generated IR and VIS VBs were characterized by a Mach-Zehnder type interferometric measurement, confirming the helical wavefronts at these high average powers. These results show that it is possible to efficiently generate high-quality VBs at multi hundreds of watts and confirm the OAM scaling law in harmonic generation processes.

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