Superposition of vortex beams generated by polarization conversion in uniaxial crystals

An optical system comprising a c-cut uniaxial crystal positioned between two axicons and illuminated by a Gaussian or a Laguerre–Gauss mode was used to demonstrate the generation of various vector vortex beams. We focused the generated beams using a 1 m focal length lens and we investigated their intensity profile and the polarization state in the focal plane of the focusing element. We showed that the achieved intensity profile can be controlled by changing the polarization state of the beam incident on the crystal. We observed that, for a particular configuration of the system, the initial circular symmetry of the beam is no longer preserved. The experiments were performed with Ti:Sapphire lasers that were operated in continuous wave mode, as well as in pulsed regime. The optical system presented here ensures a convenient way to generate a great variety of vector vortex beams and it is expected to be of interest for applications that use low and high-power laser sources, such as STED microscopy, light trapping, or material processing.