Generation of off-axis phased Gaussian optical array along arbitrary curvilinear arrangement

Vortex beams can potentially be used in optical communication, imaging, and processing applications, herein, we propose a method to generate a phased Gaussian optical array (PGOA) by arranging an aperture-bounded Gaussian optical array along arbitrary curves and using a discontinuous phase to form a controllable vortex phase. The phase difference between adjacent sub-beams is constant, and the total phase increment is 2πl. The experimental limitations of this technique are discussed, including the aperture radius, off-axis distance, number of sub-beams, and maximum topological charges. The coaxial interference characteristics of the PGOA in free space were examined numerically by using a split-step Fourier transform algorithm. We theoretically and experimentally proved the feasibility of a coherent beam combination scheme to generate a PGOA, which is of particular significance for particle manipulation and free-space optical communication applications.