Coherent beam combining of optical vortices

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate the power scaling of optical vortices by the coherent beam combining, encompassing topological charges ranging from l=1 to l=5 realized on the basis of a Yb-doped fiber short-pulsed laser system. The combining efficiency varies from 83.2 to 96.9% depending on the topological charge and beam pattern quality generated by the spatial light modulators. These results open a pathway to high-intensity optical vortices with enormous potential applications in science and industry by utilizing advances in light-matter interactions.