Generation and spatiotemporal evolution of optical vortices in femtosecond laser pulses

Topology has become one of the key concepts allowing one to understand the intrinsic, qualitative properties of phenomena throughout various scientific fields. To date, this concept has been extended to the field of material science and technology. On the other hand, we can now utilize the spatially controlled light defined by the topology (so‐called “optical vortices”) in order to characterize the topological properties of materials. In particular, optical vortices in femtosecond pulses will be invaluable for advanced topological spectroscopy. In this work, the authors created femtosecond optical vortices using a spatial light modulator. Their spatiotemporal properties were evaluated using interferogram and correlation measurements.