Generation of optical vortices in a degenerate optical resonator with an intra-cavity spiral phase plate

Abstract: We propose to generate optical vortices using a degenerate optical resonator with an intra-cavity spiral phase plate (SPP). The rays retracing skewed V-shaped paths in the resonator are phase-locked to form vortex laser with wavefront dislocation mirroring the topological charge of the SPP. Experimental demonstrations on diode-pumped solid state system using Nd:YAG crystal emitted randomly polarized optical vortices at a wavelength of 1064nm when the pump power went above 1.52W and the slope efficiency was 0.19. For long-term operations a power fluctuation of 2.2\% and pointing stability of 2.6$\mu$rads was measured. This system also serves an useful platform to study the laser dynamics and to combine radiations coherently.