Steady-State Nanosecond Stimulated Raman Generation and Filamentation using Optical Vector Vortex Beams

Stimulated Raman scattering and laser filamentation produced using nanosecond pulsed complex vector vortex beams (CVVB) are investigated in a 20 cm long methanol cell. The CVVB is generated using q-plates and is tested at orbital angular momentum (L) values of 1, 2, 3, and 4 and circular, radial, and azimuthal polarizations. The results illustrate that the stability and intensity of the generated stimulated Raman has dependence on input polarization and L value. During filamentation, the beam is also shown to break up into multiple primary filaments and that there is a reduction in small-scale filamentation when using CVVBs.