Observation of a superposition of orthogonally polarized geometric beams with a c-cut Nd:YVO ₄ crystal

We investigate a superposition of orthogonally polarized geometric beams generated from a c-cut Nd:YVO ₄ laser. Experimental results reveal that a geometric mode possesses a linearly polarized state and circularly polarized states in opposite directions at the same time and the superposition of orthogonally polarized geometric beams can be generated systematically by controlling the pump offset. We use the birefringence theory to analyze the data, and the numerical results have a good agreement with the experimental results.