Paraxial and tightly focused behaviour of the double ring perfect optical vortex.

In this paper we compare the intensity distributions in the paraxial and tightly focused regimes corresponding to a double ring perfect optical vortex (DR-POV). Using the scalar diffraction theory and the Richards-Wolf formalism, the fields in the back focal plane of a low and high (tight focusing) NA lens are calculated. In the paraxial case we experimentally observed a DR-POV whose rings enclose a dark zone thanks to the destructive interference introduced by a π phase shift.

Programmable simulator for beam propagation in turbulent atmosphere.

The study of light propagation though the atmosphere is crucial in different areas such as astronomy, free-space communications, remote sensing, etc. Since outdoors experiments are expensive and difficult to reproduce it is important to develop realistic numerical and experimental simulations. It has been demonstrated that spatial light modulators (SLMs) are well-suited for simulating different turbulent conditions in the laboratory.