Multiple rings formation in cascaded conical refraction

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple theoretical model for multiple ring patterns formed by cascaded biaxial crystals, validated through experiments with up to three crystals, enhancing understanding of complex light pattern formation.

Contribution

The authors introduce a unified formulation for multiple ring formation in cascaded biaxial crystals applicable to any number of crystals, supported by experimental validation.

Findings

Theoretical model accurately predicts ring patterns.

Experimental results confirm the model with up to three crystals.

Pattern formation depends on input polarization and crystal cascade.

Abstract

When a light beam passes through a cascade of biaxial crystals with aligned optic axes, the resulting transverse intensity pattern consists of multiple concentric rings. We provide a simple formulation for the pattern formation for both circularly and linearly polarized input beams, that could be applied for a cascade of an arbitrary number of biaxial crystals. We have experimentally investigated multiple ring formation with up to three cascade biaxial crystals, showing that the theoretical formulation is in full agreement with the experimental results.