Efficient generation of octave-separating orbital angular momentum beams via forked grating array in lithium niobite crystal

The concept of orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light has not only advanced fundamental physics research but also yielded a plethora of practical applications, benefitting from the abundant methods for OAM generation based on linear, nonlinear and combined schemes. The combined scheme could generate octave-separating OAM beams, potentially increasing the channels for optical communication and data storage. However, this scheme faces a challenge in achieving high conversion efficiency. In this work, we have demonstrated the generation of multiple OAM beams at both fundamental frequency and second harmonic (SH) wavelengths using a three-dimensional forked grating array with both spatial χ (1) and χ (2) distributions in a lithium niobate nonlinear photonic crystal platform. The enhancements of the fundamental and SH OAM beams have been achieved by employing linear Bragg diffraction and nonlinear Bragg diffraction, respectively, i.e., quasi-phase matching. The experimental results show that OAM beams with variable topological charges can be enhanced at different diffraction orders via wavelength or angle tuning, achieving conversion efficiencies of 60.45 % for the linear OAM beams and 1.08 × 10−4 W−1 for the nonlinear ones. This work provides a promising approach for parallel detection of OAM states in optical communications, and extends beyond OAM towards the control of structured light via cascaded linear and nonlinear processes.