Switching the sign of the topological charge of vortex beams via changing the fork grating resolution

We demonstrate the effect of the resolution of forked-diffractive optical elements (DOEs) on the helicity of the topological charge (TC) of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams. To aim that, the forked-DOEs are designed with the same TC while they are different in resolution. Changing the resolution allows the fork direction to be switched. Interestingly, switching the sign of the TC is the consequential achievement for the OAM beams, generated by the fork grating elements with specific resolutions. Furthermore, changing the resolution make the fork gratings to be designed for generating petal-like beams in which the magnitude of the TC tends to zero. Finally, three criteria are calculated for all intensity distributions to quantify the generated beams' quality and investigate where the helicity of the TC changes. Consequently, we demonstrate the emphasis on selecting the resolution of DOEs which plays a pivotal role in optical systems, for instance in optical tweezers where the OAM beams need to be generated with a desired sign of TC.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the impact of the resolution of forked-diffractive optical elements (DOEs) on the helicity of the topological charge (TC) of orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams. By changing the resolution, the TC sign can be switched and reduced, highlighting the importance of selecting the appropriate resolution for generating OAM beams with desired TC sign in optical systems.