Flower-Shaped Optical Vortex Array

Herein, the generation of an optical vortex array dubbed the flower-shaped optical vortex array (FOVA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated using a single optical path interference method. FOVA is generated by the superposition of even and odd Ince-Gaussian (IG) beams, which have the same degree m and different order p. The number of optical vortices (OVs) in the FOVA is determined based on the values of order p and degree m of the even and odd IG beams. Furthermore, the positive sign of the OVs in the array can be transformed to negative by adding a specific initial phase difference. The OVs vanish and then recover as the initial phase difference increases from 0 to 2 pi. Moreover, the gradient force and energy flow distribution of the FOVA are studied. The OVA with flower-shaped structure generated herein has potential significance in applications, such as microparticle manipulation and optical measurements.

Automated summary

A method for generating a flower-shaped optical vortex array (FOVA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. The FOVA is created by superposing even and odd Ince-Gaussian beams, and the number of optical vortices in the array depends on the order and degree of the beams. The sign of the optical vortices in the FOVA can be transformed from positive to negative by adding a specific initial phase difference, and the gradient force and energy flow distribution of the FOVA are also studied.