Optical skyrmion laser using a wedged output coupler

Optical skyrmions are a recently demonstrated topological state of light that promise a rich set of physics and applications, in particular material manipulation. In this work, we demonstrate a method to generate these states from a laser, providing a route to compact, high power, and low-cost skyrmion research and applications. We use a praseodymium gain medium to make red (640 nm) and orange (607 nm) Bloch-, Néel-, and anti-skyrmions, with a route to the other visible emission bands of the gain medium. This approach uses a wedged optic as the key component, and could be easily adapted to other laser gain media and laser cavity configurations.