Fine structure of perturbed Laguerre-Gaussian beams: Hermite-Gaussian mode spectra and topological charge

Abstract: We found that small perturbations of the optical vortex core in the Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams generate a fine structure of the Hermite-Gauss (HG) mode spectrum. Such perturbations can be easily simulated by weak variations of amplitudes and phases of the HG modes in the expansion of the LG beam field. We also theoretically substantiated and experimentally implemented a method for measuring the topological charge of LG beams with an arbitrary number of ring dislocations. Theoretical discussion and experimental studies were accompanied by simple examples of estimating the orbital angular momentum and the topological charge of perturbed LG beams.