Active mode mismatch sensing and control can facilitate optimal coupling in optical cavity experiments such as interferometric gravitational wave detectors. In this paper, we demonstrate a radio-frequency (RF) beam wavefront curvature modulation-based mode mismatch sensing scheme inspired by the previously proposed RF beam jitter alignment sensing scheme. The proposed mode mismatch sensing scheme uses an electro-optic lens (EOL) device that is designed to provide the required beam wavefront curvature actuation, as well as a mode converting telescope that rephases the RF second-order modes and generates a non-vanishing mode mismatch sensing signal. We carefully investigate the total second-order mode generation from the wavefront actuation both analytically and numerically, taking the effects of Gaussian beam size evolution and the second-order mode phase mismatch cancellation into consideration. We demonstrate the second-order mode generation as a function of the incident beam waist size and the electro-optic crystal size which, along with a “trade-off” consideration of the beam size at the edges of the crystal and the clipping loss, provides us with guidance for designing the beam profile that interacts with the crystal to improve the EOL modulation efficiency.
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Spatial Beam Self-Cleaning in Second-Harmonic Generation
Abstract We experimentally demonstrate the spatial self-cleaning of a highly multimode optical beam, in the process of second-harmonic generation in a quadratic nonlinear potassium titanyl phosphate crystal. As the beam energy grows larger, the output beam from the crystal evolves from a highly speckled intensity pattern into a single, bell-shaped spot, sitting on a low energy background. We demonstrate that quadratic beam cleanup is accompanied by significant self-focusing of the fundamental beam, for both positive and negative signs of the linear phase mismatch close to the phase-matching condition.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1909559
- PAR ID:
- 10279327
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2045-2322
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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