Polarization shaping for control of nonlinear propagation

Abstract

We study the nonlinear optical propagation of two different classes of space-varying polarized light beams -- radially symmetric vector beams and Poincaré beams with lemon and star topologies -- in a rubidium vapour cell. Unlike Laguerre-Gauss and other types of beams that experience modulational instabilities, we observe that their propagation is not marked by beam breakup while still exhibiting traits such as nonlinear confinement and self-focusing. Our results suggest that by tailoring the spatial structure of the polarization, the effects of nonlinear propagation can be effectively controlled. These findings provide a novel approach to transport high-power light beams in nonlinear media with controllable distortions to their spatial structure and polarization properties.

5 pages, and 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in inhomogeneous anisotropic media
• Generation and dynamics of optical beams with polarization singularities
• Vortex and half-vortex dynamics in a spinor quantum fluid of interacting polaritons

Cited by in corpus (22)

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• Dynamic tomography of the spin-orbit coupling in nonlinear optics
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