Laguerre–Gaussian Probe Beam

Updated 30 December 2025

Laguerre–Gaussian probe beams are optical fields defined by helical phase fronts and doughnut-shaped intensities that impart orbital angular momentum.
They are generated via spatial light modulators or digital micromirror devices to precisely imprint amplitude and phase patterns on an input beam.
They enable advanced applications in optical manipulation, quantum control, and microscopy by tailoring light–matter interactions and multipolar excitation dynamics.

A Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) probe beam is an optical field whose spatial amplitude and phase structure are governed by the LG mode solutions of the paraxial wave equation in cylindrical coordinates. These modes, indexed by radial index $p$ and azimuthal index $l$ , are characterized by helical phase fronts and a “doughnut”-shaped intensity profile for nonzero $l$ , with the azimuthal phase factor endowing each photon with $l\hbar$ orbital angular momentum. LG probe beams are foundational in optical manipulation, quantum information, laser cavity engineering, and high-resolution microscopy, owing to their mode purity, robust propagation properties, and ability to interact selectively with atomic-scale systems through their tailored spatial structure.

1. Mathematical Formulation and Fundamental Properties

The normalized LG mode electric field (under the paraxial approximation) in cylindrical coordinates $(r,\phi,z)$ is given by

$u_p^l(r,\phi,z) = \sqrt{\frac{2p!}{\pi (p+|l|)!}}\,\frac{1}{w(z)} \left( \frac{\sqrt{2}\,r}{w(z)} \right)^{|l|} L_p^{|l|}\left( \frac{2r^2}{w^2(z)} \right) \exp\left(-\frac{r^2}{w^2(z)}\right) \exp(i l \phi) \exp\left[i\left(k \frac{r^2}{2R(z)} - (2p+|l|+1)\psi(z)\right)\right]$

where $w(z)=w_0\sqrt{1+(z/z_R)^2}$ is the beam radius, $z_R=\pi w_0^2/\lambda$ is the Rayleigh range, $R(z)=z[1+(z_R/z)^2]$ is the wavefront curvature, $\psi(z)=\arctan(z/z_R)$ is the Gouy phase, and $L_p^{|l|}$ is the generalized Laguerre polynomial. The intensity profile is

$I_{p,l}(r,\phi,z) = |u_p^l|^2 = \frac{2p!}{\pi (p+|l|)!} \frac{1}{w^2(z)} \left( \frac{2r^2}{w^2(z)} \right)^{|l|} \left[L_p^{|l|} \left( \frac{2r^2}{w^2(z)} \right) \right]^2 \exp\left(-2\frac{r^2}{w^2(z)}\right)$

Key features:

$l$ (topological charge) generates an azimuthal phase ramp and creates a $2\pi l$ phase winding around the axis. For $l \neq 0$ , the intensity vanishes on axis.
$p$ controls the number of radial rings ( $p+1$ bright maxima).
All modes are orthonormal for a fixed beam waist $w_0$ ; orthogonality is lost for differing waists (Vallone, 2016).

2. Practical Generation: Digital Micromirror Devices and Holography

A representative LG probe beam can be generated by imposing both its amplitude and helical phase structure on an input Gaussian beam, commonly using either spatial light modulators (SLMs) or digital micromirror devices (DMDs). In DMD-based generation (Lerner et al., 2012), the process is as follows:

Compute a “fork” hologram arising from the interference of the target LG mode (at $z=0$ ) with a tilted plane wave. The phase at each $(r,\phi)$ is

$\Phi_{\rm fork}(r,\phi) = l\phi + \frac{2\pi}{\lambda} r \cos\phi\,\sin\alpha$

where $\alpha$ tunes the fringe frequency.

Embed the radial amplitude via multiplication by the LG amplitude profile, including a correction envelope to match the input beam size.
Convert the resulting greyscale pattern to a binary amplitude mask by thresholding or spatial dithering.
Illuminate the DMD with the matched Gaussian, spatially filter the desired diffracted order, and relay to the target or detection plane.

Mode purity is quantified via simulated overlap ( $>94\%$ ), experimental intensity correlation ($94$– $96\%$ ), or direct interferometric probes of the phase structure (Lerner et al., 2012).

3. Role in Quantum, Atomic, and Nonlinear Probing

LG probe beams provide a tunable spatial structure for precision light–matter interaction and quantum control:

In atom localization, the transverse amplitude modulates the Rabi frequency, producing position-dependent atom–light coupling. Using a double- $\Lambda$ configuration with LG $_0^1$ probe fields, one can localize single atoms to regions below $\,\lambda/20 \times \lambda/20\,$ , due to the steep transverse gradients in intensity (Kazemi et al., 2018).
For photoexcitation of ions, the selection of polarization (circular, radial, or azimuthal) and beam waist enables control over electric quadrupole excitation rates (e.g., $4s\,^2S_{1/2} \to 3d\,^2D_{5/2}$ in Ca $^+$ ). The total excitation rate $\Gamma_{E2}(r_0, w_0)$ displays strong dependence on both waist and atomic offset, with “vector” LG modes (radial or azimuthal) outperforming circularly polarized beams when the target is positioned in the bright ring (Ramakrishna et al., 2021).

Tightly focused LG beams ( $w_0\sim\lambda$ ) mix spin and orbital angular momentum, producing on-axis magnetic fields and strong longitudinal gradients. At the focus, such beams provide a nonvanishing response for magnetic dipole (M1) and electric quadrupole (E2) transitions, even when the electric field vanishes, thus enabling probing of otherwise inaccessible atomic transitions or nanostructures (Klimov et al., 2012).

4. Basis Expansions, Wavefront Characterization, and Mode Superpositions

LG modes form a complete orthonormal basis (for fixed waist), permitting:

Expansion of arbitrary paraxial fields via

$E_{\mathrm{model}}(r,\phi,z) = \sum_{p,\ell} \alpha_{p,\ell} E_{p,\ell}(r,\phi,z)$

where $\alpha_{p,\ell}$ are complex modal coefficients. This supports modal decomposition (e.g., in beam diagnostics) and correction of aberrant wavefronts (Weber et al., 2024).

The Beamfit algorithm reconstructs LG amplitudes from a sequence of intensity images across the Rayleigh range, fitting to minimize the mean-square error with computational cost reduced to $\mathcal{O}(N)$ for $N$ modes by factorizing radial and azimuthal dependencies.
Superpositions of LG modes may be engineered to form SU(2)-coherent state beams, with a tunable parameter $\alpha$ continuously morphing between LG and Hermite–Gaussian (HG) mode families, yielding structures that are propagation-invariant up to a Gaussian scaling. Phase-only SLMs encode these superpositions via synthetic phase holography, enabling arbitrary tailoring of probe beam structure for application-specific requirements (Aguirre-Olivas et al., 2024).

If the waist parameter is varied, the expansion of a given field in LG modes of different waists involves non-diagonal overlap integrals, optimized via the prescription of (Vallone, 2016).

5. Propagation, Robustness, and Customization

LG probe beams are robust under propagation:

The intensity and phase patterns are self-similar under $z$ -evolution, with well-defined scaling of the beam waist and a linear change in the Gouy phase.
In inhomogeneous (parabolic) media, the beam width $w(z)$ satisfies an Ermakov equation, leading to periodic self-focusing and bounded propagation, generalizing free-space LG behavior (Cruz et al., 2020).
“Perfect” LG beams may be customized such that their bright intensity maxima are programmed along arbitrary curves by angular spectrum algebraic modulation. These customized beams maintain their profile and energy content over greater distances compared to non-diffraction-caustic Bessel–Gaussian beams, with high profile fidelity ( $\gamma\approx0.8$ at the Rayleigh range) and rapid self-healing if partially blocked (Wang et al., 2022).

6. Nonlinear and Relativistic Scattering, Quantum Electrodynamics, and High-Field Physics

LG probe beams have unique signatures in nonlinear and quantum scattering:

In coherent nonlinear Thomson scattering on an electron sheet, the far-field scattered harmonics display a helical phase structure determined by $q = N\ell + \epsilon_L(N-1)$ , where $N$ is the harmonic order, $\ell$ the incident OAM, and $\epsilon_L$ the pump polarization handedness. Each harmonic order is emitted in a narrow cone, the phase and intensity of which encode the OAM multiplication and spin–orbit mixing of the process (Toma et al., 2024).
In quantum electrodynamics, the photon polarization tensor in an LG background is explicitly computable, with the LG mode indices directly imprinting their azimuthal and radial dependencies onto vacuum birefringence, photon splitting, and related high-field effects. The analytic expressions for the polarization tensor reveal the critical role of LG beam geometry in modulating quantum nonlinear interactions (Karbstein et al., 2017).

7. Applications, Advantages, and Limitations

LG probe beams are exploited in:

Optical tweezing and manipulation, where the OAM of the beam imparts torque to particles.
High-resolution microscopy—structured illumination enhances resolution and contrast, especially in STED/confocal platforms.
Quantum communication, where high-dimensional OAM states encode information, benefiting from the modal purity and resilience of LG modes.
Exciting higher-order cavity modes or shaping intracavity dynamics in lasers.
Probing forbidden transitions or manipulating the atomic state with tailored multipole selection rules, leveraging the spatial field gradients and polarization control intrinsic to LG beams.

Compared to phase-only SLM techniques, DMD-based binary holography enables significantly higher frame rates, greater robustness to high intensities, and lower cost, at the expense of lower diffraction efficiency (limited theoretically to $\approx$ 10% into a single order) and the need for spatial filtering (Lerner et al., 2012).

Collectively, LG probe beams represent a rigorously understood, experimentally accessible, and highly tunable platform for precision measurement, field diagnostics, light–matter interaction control, and advanced optical engineering.