Observation of Ince-Gaussian modes in stable resonators.

We report what is to our knowledge the first observation of Ince-Gaussian modes directly generated in a stable resonator. By slightly breaking the symmetry of the cavity of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser and its pump beam configuration we were able to generate single high-order Ince-Gaussian modes of high quality. The observed transverse modes have an inherent elliptic structure and exhibit remarkable agreement with theoretical predictions.

[1]  Julio C Gutiérrez-Vega,et al.  Ince-Gaussian beams. , 2004, Optics letters.

[2]  F. M. Arscott,et al.  Periodic Differential Equations , 1963 .

[3]  C. Flood,et al.  Preferential operation of an end-pumped Nd:YAG laser in high-order Laguerre-Gauss modes. , 1990, Optics letters.

[4]  Julio C Gutiérrez-Vega,et al.  Ince-Gaussian modes of the paraxial wave equation and stable resonators. , 2004, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.