"Optical vortices are singularities in phase fronts of laser beams. They are characterized by a dark core whose size may dramatically affect their behavior upon propagation. Previously, only large-core vortices have been extensively studied. The object of the research presented in this dissertation was to explore ways of generating small-core optical vortices (also called optical vortex filaments), and to examine their propagation using analytical, numerical and experimental methods. Computer-generated holography enabled us to create arbitrary distributions of optical vortex filaments for experimental exploration. We used hydrodynamic paradigms to develop an heuristic model which described the dependence of vortex motion on other vortices and the background beam, both qualitatively and quantitatively. We predicted that pair of optical vortex filaments will rotate with angular rates inversely proportional to their separation distance (just like vortices in a fluid). We also reported the first experimental observation of this novel fluid-like effect. It was found, however, that upon propagation in linear media, the fluid-like rotation was not sustained owing to the overlap of diffracting vortex cores. Further numerical studies and experiments showed that rotation angle may be enhanced in nonlinear self-defocusing media. The results presented in this thesis offer us a better understanding of dynamics of propagating vortices which may result in applications in optical switching, manipulation of micro-particles and optical limiting."

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-26T16:56:47Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese_Anderson_Amaral.pdf: 6016426 bytes, checksum: d9633b708d004572ce2495387f757089 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-26T16:56:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese_Anderson_Amaral.pdf: 6016426 bytes, checksum: d9633b708d004572ce2495387f757089 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29 / CNPQ / In this thesis are presented various results regarding the transverse structure of light beams in the paraxial propagation regime, with a special concern with singularities in the transverse profile and in nonlinear optics applications. Theoretical and experimental tools were developed for the study of Optical Vortices (OV) and its most important characteristics, as the Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) and the Topological Charge (TC). In a first step, we theoretically described and experimentally demonstrated that it is possible to shape the intensity profile of a beam containing OV by distributing TC over the plane transverse to the propagation direction [1]. The TC is associated with a phase singularity that implies in points of zero intensity. By distributing the TC on the transverse plane, it is possible to shape the beam dark region and also the OAM profile with the goal of optimizing the light beam for a given application. However, a problem identified in [1] was that most of the current available techniques to characterize OAM light implicitly assume that the beam has cylindrical symmetry, thus being inadequate to characterize fields resulting from more general TC distributions. These problems were approached in a second work [2], where it was shown that by measuring the field transverse amplitude and phase profiles it is possible to measure the OAM and the TC in TC distributions with arbitrary geometries. By combination of the results [1] and [2] it is possible to optimize and characterize the TC distributions for given applications, as for example by designing the transverse forces in an optical tweezer for microparticle manipulation. An important theoretical unfold during these works was the identification of an analogous relation between the field transverse phase in a TC distribution with the Coulomb potential in two-dimensional electrostatics. We then introduced in [3] the Topological Potential (TP) concept which allows the design of structured optical beams with complex spatial profiles inspired by two-dimensional electrostatics analogies. The TP can be used to describe a broad class of TC distributions, as those from [1,2] or the more sophisticate examples in [3]. In another set of results, it is discussed the possibility of using concepts and the formalism of quantum mechanics to solve light propagation problems in the classical approximation. Among the results obtained, it should be remarked that the formalism obtained has a simple and direct relation with ABCD matrices and ray optics [4]. These results were used to understand light propagation in systems containing nonlinear materials, as in SLIM [5] and D4σ [6] techniques. In [5, 6] the theoretical results were compared with experimental data obtained from standard samples, as carbon dissulfide (CS2), acetone and fused silica. It was obtained a very good agreement between the measured optical nonlinearities and the results established in literature for these materials. / Nesta tese são apresentados resultados relacionados com a estrutura transversal de feixes de luz no regime paraxial de propagação, com uma atenção especial em singularidades no perfil transversal e em aplicações para óptica não linear. Foram desenvolvidas ferramentas teóricas e experimentais para o estudo de vórtices ópticos (Optical Vortices - OVs), e suas características mais importantes, como o momento angular orbital (Orbital Angular Momentum - OAM) e a carga topológica (Topological Charge - TC). Inicialmente, foi teoricamente descrito e experimentalmente demonstrado como é possível moldar o perfil de intensidade de um feixe contendo OVs usando uma distribuição de TC sobre o plano transversal à direção de propagação [1]. A TC está associada a uma singularidade na fase, o que implica em um zero de intensidade. Ao se distribuir a TC sobre o plano transversal, é possível moldar o formato da região de intensidade nula e também o perfil de OAM no intuito de otimizar o feixe para uma dada aplicação. No entanto, um problema identificado neste trabalho é que a maior parte das técnicas de caracterização disponíveis para luz com OAM implicitamente supunham que o feixe possui simetria cilíndrica, e portanto não eram adequadas para caracterizar campos obtidos a partir de distribuições de TC com geometrias mais gerais. Tais problemas foram abordados em um segundo trabalho [2], onde foi mostrado que por meio de medições dos perfis transversais de amplitude e fase do campo elétrico é possível medir o OAM e a TC em distribuições de TC com formas geométricas arbitrárias. A união dos trabalhos [1] e [2] permite então que as distribuições de TC possam ser adequadamente otimizadas e caracterizadas para aplicações específicas, como por exemplo ao moldar as forças transversais numa pinça óptica para a manipulação de micropartículas. Um desdobramento teórico importante obtido foi identificar uma relação análoga entre o perfil de fase em uma distribuição de TC com o potencial de Coulomb em eletrostática bidimensional. Foi então introduzido em [3] o conceito de potencial topológico (Topological Potential - TP) que possibilita a construção de feixes ópticos estruturados com perfis espaciais complexos inspirados em analogias com eletrostática bidimensional. O TP pode ser usado na descrição de uma grande variedade de distribuições de TC, como nos feixes em [1, 2] ou nos exemplos mais sofisticados em [3]. Posteriormente, é discutida a possibilidade de se utilizar conceitos e o formalismo da mecânica quântica na solução de problemas de propagação da luz descrita na aproximação clássica. Dentre os resultados obtidos, destaca-se que o formalismo possui uma relação simples e direta com as matrizes ABCD e a óptica de raios [4]. Estes resultados foram utilizados na compreensão da propagação da luz em sistemas contendo materiais não lineares, como nas técnicas SLIM [5] e D4σ[6]. Nos trabalhos [5,6] os resultados teóricos foram comparados com dados experimentais obtidos em amostras padrão, como dissulfeto de carbono (CS2), acetona e sílica fundida. Foi obtida uma concordância muito boa entre os valores medidos para as não linearidades ópticas nestes materiais e os valores estabelecidos na literatura.

In this thesis, an investigation into the modal characteristics of novel beam shapes is presented. Sculpting the phase profile of a Gaussian beam can result in the generation of a beam with unique properties. Described in this thesis are Laguerre-Gaussian (LG), Hermite-Gaussian (HG) and Bessel beams (BBs). The diffraction of LG beam modes from a triangular aperture is explored and this effect can be used for the efficient measurement of the azimuthal mode index l that indicates the number of multiples of 2π of phase changes that the field displays around one circumference of the optical axis. In this study, only LG beams with zero radial mode index p, with p + 1 denoting the number of bright high intensity concentric rings around the optical axis, were considered. Then, a powerful approach to simultaneously determine both mode indices of a pure LG beam using the principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm on the observed far-field diffraction patterns was demonstrated. Owing to PCA algorithm, the shape of the diffracting element used to measure the mode indices is in fact of little importance and the crucial step is ‘training' any diffracting optical system and transforming the observed far-field diffraction patterns into the uncorrelated variables (principal components). Our PCA method is generic and it was extended to other families of light fields such as HG, Bessel and superposed beams. This reinforces the widespread applicability of this method for various applications. Finally, both theoretically and experimentally investigations using interferometry show the definitive linkage between both the radial and azimuthal mode indices of a partially coherent LG beam and the dislocation rings in the far-field cross-correlation function (CCF).