Spontaneous Formation of Vector Vortex Beams in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers with Feedback

Jesus Jimenez-Garcia (1) , Pedro Rodriguez (2) , Thierry Guillet (3, 1) , T. Ackemann (1)

1 Experimental Quantum Optics and Photonics Group, University of Strathclyde
2 Physics Department, University of Cordoba
3 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb

The spontaneous emergence of vector vortex beams with non-uniform polarization distribution is reported in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with frequency-selective feedback. Anti-vortices with a hyperbolic polarization structure and radially polarized vortices are demonstrated. They exist close to and partially coexist with vortices with uniform and non-uniform polarization distributions characterized by four domains of pairwise orthogonal polarization. These vector vortices are argued to have soliton-like properties. Independently of this interpretation, the novel way of generating these nontrivial structures in a remarkably simple VCSEL system is regarded to be interesting and potentially beneficial for other experiments utilizing non-uniform polarization structures.

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Jesus Jimenez-Garcia, Pedro Rodriguez, Thierry Guillet, T. Ackemann. Spontaneous Formation of Vector Vortex Beams in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers with Feedback. Physical Review Letters, 2017, 119 (11), pp.113902. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.113902⟩. ⟨hal-01631138⟩