Interference of high-order perfect optical vortex beams

We investigate the interference of high-order perfect optical vortex (POV) beams with different topological charges. Through numerical simulations, we reveal a remarkable phenomenon: keeping the beam width, and beam radius fixed while changing the topological charge, the splitting of the composite POV beam into two distinct individual perfect vortices occurs exactly at the same inter-axial separation. The observed interference pattern exhibits pronounced sensitivity to factors such as axial separation, phase shift, beam radius, and topological charges of the constituent beams. Notably, our findings are contrasted with the interference of high-order Laguerre-Gauss (LG) beams, highlighting that the splitting of composite vortices into their individual components is more rapid in the case of LG beams. We also investigate the evolution of the interference pattern for both POV, and LG beams along the propagation direction in free-space. Our research provides significant insights into the distinct interference properties of high-order POV beams, presenting potential applications in the fields of optical manipulation and communication systems. •Remarkable interference phenomenon.•Composite vortex splitting.•Pronounced pattern sensitivity.