Characterising laser beams with liquid crystal displays

Angela Dudley; Darryl Naidoo; Andrew Forbes

doi:10.1117/12.2244258

3 February 2017 Characterising laser beams with liquid crystal displays

Angela Dudley, Darryl Naidoo, Andrew Forbes

Proceedings Volume 10036, Fourth Conference on Sensors, MEMS, and Electro-Optic Systems; 100360W (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2244258
Event: Fourth Conference on Sensors, MEMS and Electro-Optic Systems, 2016, Skukuza, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Abstract

We show how one can determine the various properties of light, from the modal content of laser beams to decoding the information stored in optical fields carrying orbital angular momentum, by performing a modal decomposition. Although the modal decomposition of light has been known for a long time, applied mostly to pattern recognition, we illustrate how this technique can be implemented with the use of liquid-crystal displays. We show experimentally how liquid crystal displays can be used to infer the intensity, phase, wavefront, Poynting vector, and orbital angular momentum density of unknown optical fields. This measurement technique makes use of a single spatial light modulator (liquid crystal display), a Fourier transforming lens and detector (CCD or photo-diode). Such a diagnostic tool is extremely relevant to the real-time analysis of solid-state and fibre laser systems as well as mode division multiplexing as an emerging technology in optical communication.

Citation Download Citation

Angela Dudley, Darryl Naidoo, and Andrew Forbes "Characterising laser beams with liquid crystal displays", Proc. SPIE 10036, Fourth Conference on Sensors, MEMS, and Electro-Optic Systems, 100360W (3 February 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2244258

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