Sequential harmonic spin–orbit angular momentum generation in nonlinear optical crystals

Light beams carrying multiple orbital angular momentum (OAM) states, which can be realized by the structured media with phase singularities, have attracted great attentions in the fields of high dimensional optical information processing. Alternatively, a simple uniaxial crystal can be used to simultaneously generate four OAM states of light through the second harmonic generation and cascaded optical spin–orbit interaction (SOI) processes. However, two of the OAM states realized in the crystal are very weak and limit the practical applications. Here, we aim to circumvent this constraint by using the sequential optical SOI processes in two crystals with threefold rotational symmetry. Four angular momentum states of the fundamental waves are prepared after the first crystal and then are utilized to generate the corresponding second harmonic waves (SHWs) with opposite spin and doubled OAM in the second crystal. Further through a sequential SOI process, totally eight angular momentum states of the SHWs with nearly equal energy are experimentally observed. The proposed methodology may find potential applications in optical communications, parallel optical computing, optical manipulation and so on.