Abstract
The emission of higher-order helical waves from lasers is experimentally investigated. Multistability between different helical states and time-dependent emission occurs for class B lasers. The statistical appearance of the different states can be influenced by radial and azimuthal variation of the losses in the laser resonator. Second-order helical-wave emission is also demonstrated for a class A laser. In the case of a small astigmatism the spatial intensity distribution is linked to the helicity.
© 1994 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Daniel Hennequin, Laurent Dambly, Didier Dangoisse, and Pierre Glorieux
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11(4) 676-684 (1994)
G. J. Pert
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11(8) 1425-1435 (1994)
C. Tanguy, B. Sermage, J.-L. Oudar, and R. Azoulay
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 11(8) 1418-1424 (1994)