Abstract

The wave transfer matrix (WTM) is applied to calculating various characteristics of a spiral phase plate (SPP) for the first time to our knowledge. This approach provides a more convenient and systematic approach to calculating properties of a multilayered SPP device. In particular, it predicts the optical wave characteristics on the input and output plane of the device when the SPP is fabricated on a substrate of the same refractive index as the SPP as well as on a substrate of a different refractive index compared to the SPP. The dependence of the parameters on the input laser frequency is studied in detail for a low finesse SPP etalon device for both cases. The equations derived from the WTM are used to show that a variation in input laser frequency causes the optical intensity pattern on the output plane to rotate, while preserving the topology of the optical vortex, i.e., the variation in laser frequency has a minimal effect on the parameters describing the azimuthal intensity modulation and orbital angular momentum content of the beam. In addition, the equations predict the presence of longitudinal modes in the SPP device.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

Ray transfer matrix for a spiral phase plate

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