Schulze, CNgcobo, SandileDuparre, MForbes, A2013-03-252013-03-252012-12Schulze, C, Ngcobo, S, Duparre, M and Forbes, A. 2012. Modal decomposition without a priori scale information. Optics Express, vol. 20(25), 27866-278731094-4087http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-20-25-27866http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6592Copyright: 2012 Optical Society of America. Published in Optics Express, vol. 20(25), 27866-27873The modal decomposition of an arbitrary optical field may be done without regard to the spatial scale of the chosen basis functions, but this generally leads to a large number of modes in the expansion. While this may be considered as mathematically correct, it is not efficient and not physically representative of the underlying field. Here we demonstrate a modal decomposition approach that requires no a priori knowledge of the spatial scale of the modes, but nevertheless leads to an optimised modal expansion. We illustrate the power of the method by successfully decomposing beams from a diode-pumped solid state laser resonator into an optimised Laguerre-Gaussian mode set. Our experimental results, which are in agreement with theory, illustrate the versatility of the approach.enSpatial light modulatorsPhase modulationDigital holographyArticleSchulze, C., Ngcobo, S., Duparre, M., & Forbes, A. (2012). Modal decomposition without a priori scale information. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6592Schulze, C, Sandile Ngcobo, M Duparre, and A Forbes "Modal decomposition without a priori scale information." (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6592Schulze C, Ngcobo S, Duparre M, Forbes A. Modal decomposition without a priori scale information. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6592.TY - Article AU - Schulze, C AU - Ngcobo, Sandile AU - Duparre, M AU - Forbes, A AB - The modal decomposition of an arbitrary optical field may be done without regard to the spatial scale of the chosen basis functions, but this generally leads to a large number of modes in the expansion. While this may be considered as mathematically correct, it is not efficient and not physically representative of the underlying field. Here we demonstrate a modal decomposition approach that requires no a priori knowledge of the spatial scale of the modes, but nevertheless leads to an optimised modal expansion. We illustrate the power of the method by successfully decomposing beams from a diode-pumped solid state laser resonator into an optimised Laguerre-Gaussian mode set. Our experimental results, which are in agreement with theory, illustrate the versatility of the approach. DA - 2012-12 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Spatial light modulators KW - Phase modulation KW - Digital holography LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2012 SM - 1094-4087 T1 - Modal decomposition without a priori scale information TI - Modal decomposition without a priori scale information UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6592 ER -