Generation of perfect polarization vortices using combined gratings in a single spatial light modulator

3D reconstruction method based on the multi-polarization superposition coding phase pattern of LRR objects

Conventional research in structured light measurements has utilized light intensity as a channel for information. The polarization of light can be used as an additional channel of information. In this paper, a method based on the superposition of multiple polarization states is proposed to encode structured light. By building a polarization model between the color of light and the polarization states, polarized structured light containing phase information is obtained without rotating the polarizer. It is demonstrated that the method improves the waveform quality of stripes and the accuracy of the 3D reconstruction results when measuring highly reflective objects.

Phase control scheme of the coherent beam combining system for generating perfect vectorial vortex beams assisted by a Dammann vortex grating

Based on Dammann vortex grating and adaptive gain stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm, we theoretically proposed a phase control technology scheme of the coherent beam combining system for generating perfect vectorial vortex beams (VVBs). The simulated results demonstrate that the discrete phase locking for different types of VVBs (including vortex beams, vector beams, and generalized VVBs) can be successfully realized. The intensity distributions, polarization orientation, Pancharatnam phases, and beam widths of different |Hm_,n〉 states with the obtained discrete phase distribution further prove that the generated beams are perfect VVBs. Subsequently, the phase aberration residual for different VVBs is evaluated using the normalized phase cosine distance function, and their values range from 0.01 to 0.08, which indicates the obtained discrete phase distribution is close to the ideal phase distribution. In addition, benefitting from the high bandwidth of involved devices in the proposed scheme, the influence of dynamic phase noise can be negligible. The proposed method could be beneficial to realize and switch flexible perfect VVBs in further applications.

Generation and measurement of irregular polygonal perfect vortex optical beam based on all-dielectric geometric metasurface

The perfect optical vortex (POV) beam carrying orbital angular momentum with topological charge-independent radial intensity distribution possesses ubiquitous applications in optical communication, particle manipulation, and quantum optics. But the mode distribution of conventional POV beam is relatively single, limiting the modulation of the particles. Here, we originally introduce the high-order cross-phase (HOCP) and ellipticity γ into the POV beam and construct all-dielectric geometric metasurfaces to generate irregular polygonal perfect optical vortex (IPPOV) beams following the trend of miniaturization and integration of optical systems. By controlling the order of the HOCP, conversion rate u, and ellipticity factor γ, various shapes of IPPOV beams with different electric field intensity distributions can be realized. In addition, we analyze the propagation characteristics of IPPOV beams in free-space, and the number and rotation direction of bright spots at the focal plane give the magnitude and sign of the topological charge carried by the beam. The method does not require cumbersome devices or complex calculation process, and provides a simple and effective method for simultaneous polygon shaping and topological charge measurement. This work further improves the beam manipulation ability while maintaining the characteristics of the POV beam, enriches the mode distribution of the POV beam, and provides more possibilities for particle manipulation.

Generation of perfect vectorial vortex beams by employing coherent beam combining

Based on coherent beam combining, we propose a method for generating the perfect vectorial vortex beams (VVBs) with a specially designed radial phase-locked Gaussian laser array, which is composed of two discrete vortex arrays with right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) circularly polarized states and in turn adjacent to each other. The simulation results demonstrate that the VVBs with correct polarization order and topological Pancharatnam charge are successfully generated. The diameter and thickness of generated VVBs independent of the polarization orders and topological Pancharatnam charges further prove that the generated VVBs are perfect. Propagating in free space, the generated perfect VVBs can be stable for a certain distance, even with half-integer orbital angular momentum. In addition, constant phases φ₀ between the RH and LH circularly polarized laser arrays has no effect on polarization order and topological Pancharatnam charge but makes polarization orientation to rotate φ₀/2. Moreover, perfect VVBs with elliptically polarized states can be flexibly generated only by adjusting the intensity ratio between the RH and LH circularly polarized laser array, and such perfect VVBs are also stable on beam propagation. The proposed method could provide a valuable guidance for high power perfect VVBs in future applications.

Optical memory for arbitrary perfect Poincaré states in an atomic ensemble

Inherent spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which manifest as polarization and spatial degrees of freedom (DOFs) of photons, hold a promise of large capability for applications in classical and quantum information processing. To enable these photonic spin and orbital dynamic properties strongly coupled with each other, Poincaré states have been proposed and offer advantages in data multiplexing, information encryption, precision metrology, and quantum memory. However, since the transverse size of Laguerre-Gaussian beams strongly depends on their topological charge numbers | l |, it is difficult to store asymmetric Poincaré states due to the significantly different light-matter interaction for distinct spatial modes. Here, we experimentally realize the storage of perfect Poincaré states with arbitrary OAM quanta using the perfect optical vortex, in which 121 arbitrarily selected perfect Poincaré states have been stored with high fidelity. The reported work has great prospects in optical communication and quantum networks for dramatically increased encoding flexibility of information.

Creating perfect composite vortex beams with a single all-dielectric geometric metasurface

Optical vortex beam carrying orbit angular momentum has been extensively researched and applied recently. Among which a perfect vortex beam (PVB) has attracted much attention owing to its topological charge (TC)-irrelevant intensity profile. However, the morphology singularity, as well as implementation complexity of the PVB tie the degree of freedom for multiplexing. Herein, by introducing the concept of a composite vortex beam, we originally propose a novel kind of PVB - perfect composite vortex beam (PCVB) - which possesses a rosette-like intensity pattern that is exactly correlated with the TC and can be directly generated using a single all-dielectric geometric metasurface rather than bulky optical systems. We numerically simulate the broadband generation of the proposed PCVB with various TCs, sizes, and rotation angles. To further explore the potential of our design in practical applications, we demonstrated the coaxial array of the PCVBs and detected their optical angular force for manipulating nanoparticles. We believe that our fruitage may pave a desirable avenue for optical communication, information processing, and optical manipulation.

Phase-only modulation of light

We disclose the method to obtain polarization insensitive phase-only modulation that preserves both the state and the degree of polarization of light modulated using a medium with controlled birefringence. We find that, in the double-pass configuration involving reflection from the Faraday rotator mirror, such a medium acts as the phase-only modulator. The experimental data measured in the Michelson-interferometer-based setup for deformed-helix ferroelectric liquid crystal cells are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical results. For such cells, we experimentally demonstrate high-frequency (4 kHz modulation rate) 2π phase-only light modulation governed by the average phase shift and solve the problem of optical axes switching.

Compact optical module to generate arbitrary vector vortex beams

We demonstrated a compact optical module that is capable of efficiently generating vector vortex beams (VVB). With this device, a linearly polarized input beam can be converted into a vector beam with arbitrary spatial polarization and phase distributions, accompanied by an energy utilization up to 61%. Equally important, the area utilization of the spatial light modulator, a key component in the device, is as high as 65.5%. With the designed vector-vortex-beam-generation module, several types of VVBs with different vortex topological charges and spatial polarization distributions were created experimentally. This device may find applications in optical tweezers, laser machining, and so on.