Polarization shaping for control of nonlinear propagation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that polarization shaping of specific light beams can control nonlinear propagation effects like self-focusing and confinement in rubidium vapor, enabling improved high-power beam transport.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of controlling nonlinear optical propagation through polarization structure tailoring of vector and Poincaré beams.

Findings

Radially symmetric vector and Poincaré beams do not undergo beam breakup.

Nonlinear confinement and self-focusing are observed without modulational instability.

Polarization tailoring effectively controls nonlinear propagation effects.

Abstract

We study the nonlinear optical propagation of two different classes of space-varying polarized light beams -- radially symmetric vector beams and Poincar\'e beams with lemon and star topologies -- in a rubidium vapour cell. Unlike Laguerre-Gauss and other types of beams that experience modulational instabilities, we observe that their propagation is not marked by beam breakup while still exhibiting traits such as nonlinear confinement and self-focusing. Our results suggest that by tailoring the spatial structure of the polarization, the effects of nonlinear propagation can be effectively controlled. These findings provide a novel approach to transport high-power light beams in nonlinear media with controllable distortions to their spatial structure and polarization properties.