Generation of radially polarized high energy mid-infrared optical vortex by use of a passive axially symmetric ZnSe waveplate

We demonstrated the generation of the intense radially polarized mid-infrared optical vortex at a wavelength of 10.6 μm by use of a passive axially symmetric zinc selenide (ZnSe) waveplate with high energy pulse throughput. The phase of the radially polarized optical vortex with the degree of polarization of 0.95 was spirally distributed in regard to the angle. The converted laser beam energy of about 2.6 mJ per pulse was obtained at the input pulse energy of 4.9 mJ, corresponding to the energy conversion efficiency of 56%.