Visible optical vortices measured with bulk lateral shearing interferometry

Abstract

[EN]Ultrafast pulse optical vortices are spatiotemporal structures with a diverse range of applications. There are different ways to generate them, often restricted to a wavelength range. Likewise, characterization techniques frequently possess similar limitations. In this work, we first generate ultrashort optical vortices in the near-infrared from Ti:sapphire laser pulses by means of structured waveplates and beam manipulation. Then, we produce the visible vortices through up-conversion using a second-harmonic generation crystal. The resulting beams require spatiotemporal characterization, which is performed by bulk lateral shearing interferometry. The reference pulse is temporally characterized with the amplitude swing technique. In this manner, we present the generation of these pulses in the visible range, which is experimentally validated, and demonstrate that bulk lateral shearing interferometry can be used for pulsed beams across widely different spectral regions with the same setup. This finding is significant for future applications of the technique with various sources.