When a circularly polarized light propagates through a biaxial crystal along its optic axis, the transmitted field evolves into a cone, and this is known as the conical refraction. Several applications are developed based on this effect, such as Bessel beam generation and optical tweezers. With the fast-physical-optics simulation technique in VirtualLab, conical refraction from a KGd crystal is demonstrated.

• Use Case (PDF)pdf27.08.2018
• Use Case and sample files in VirtualLab Fusion (ZIP)zip27.08.2018

Are you interested in further reading? Find more relevant use cases here:

• Polarization Conversion in Uniaxial Crystals
• Stress-induced Birefringence in Laser Crystals