New paper in OLT showing how to obtain spatially variant coherence patterns from an unpolarized laser
Our last work, entitled Optical beams with spatially variant coherence properties from an unpolarized laser has been published in the journal Optics & Laser Technology.
In this work we demonstrate how to generate quasi-monochromatic laser beams with engineered, non-uniform transverse spatial coherence properties using an unpolarized helium–neon laser. This is achieved with a static phase modulating device that spatially modulates the laser’s two orthogonal polarization components, followed by a linear polarizer.
We demonstrate the method wih patterned geometric phase elements or and with programmable liquid-crystal spatial light modulators. The technique exploits the nanosecond-timescale variation of the laser’s emitted polarization ellipse, creating configurable non-uniform coherence patterns that maintain their spatial coherence characteristics down to nanosecond temporal windows.
This work has been leaded by David Marco during his postdoctoral stay at TecnOpto Lab during 2024.