Ultrafast control of fractional orbital angular momentum of microlaser emissions
Abstract
On-chip integrated laser sources of structured light carrying fractional orbital angular momentum (FOAM) are highly desirable for the forefront development of optical communication and quantum information–processing technologies. While integrated vortex beam generators have been previously demonstrated in different optical settings, ultrafast control and sweep of FOAM light with low-power control, suitable for high-speed optical communication and computing, remains challenging. Here we demonstrate fast control of the FOAM from a vortex semiconductor microlaser based on fast transient mixing of integer laser vorticities induced by a control pulse. A continuous FOAM sweep between charge 0 and charge +2 is demonstrated in a 100 ps time window, with the ultimate speed limit being established by the carrier recombination time in the gain medium. Our results provide a new route to generating vortex microlasers carrying FOAM that are switchable at GHz frequencies by an ultrafast control pulse.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Oct 21, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41377-020-00415-3
Entities
People
- Danilo Gomes Pires
- Haoqi Zhao
- Josep Miquel Jornet
- Liang Feng
- Natalia M. Litchinitser
- Stefano Longhi
- Xingdu Qiao
- Zhifeng Zhang
- Zihe Gao
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- National Science Foundation