Super bursts of the orbital angular momentum in astigmatic-invariant structured LG beams

Abstract

A structured Laguerre–Gaussian (sLG) beam in an optical system with an astigmatic element acquires additional degrees of freedom in the form of changing the fine structure of the beam, its orbital angular momentum (OAM), and topological charge. We have theoretically and experimentally revealed that at a certain ratio between the beam waist radius and the focal length of the cylindrical lens, the beam turns into an astigmatic-invariant one, and such a transition does not depend on the beam radial and azimuthal numbers. Moreover, in the vicinity of the OAM zero, its sharp bursts occur, the magnitude of which significantly exceeds the initial beam OAM and grows rapidly as the radial number increases.