Electrically-controlled generation and switching of arbitrary vector vortex beams on multiple hybrid-order Poincaré spheres based on liquid crystal devices

ABSTRACT

Hybrid-order Poincaré Sphere (HyOPS) is always used to describe arbitrary vector vortex beams and it makes the physical process of polarisation and phase evolution more intuitive. In this paper, we present a method to generate high-order vector vortex beams on multiple HyOPSs electronically using liquid crystal (LC) q-plates and LC phase viable retarder (LCVR), offering us an electrically controlled method to achieve orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes switching. Arbitrary generation and switching on three HyOPSs are achieved by loading certain voltages on the LC devices in this system. Experiments’ separate verification of several peculiar points on these HyOPSs is conducted and the results fit well with theoretical predictions. This method of generating high-order vector vortex beams avoids the deviation caused by mechanical operation, and also provides an efficient, handy, fast tunable, easy-to-integration way to electronically generate and manipulate arbitrary high-order vector vortex beams on three HyOPSs with different topological charges instead of manual replacement of q-plates. This affords another passage for picophotonics as well as the science of interactions of picometre-scale events with light. Applications are vector vortex beam lasers, photo-communication, laser processing and super-resolution imaging.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Hybrid-order Poincaré sphere
• liquid crystal
• vector vortex beam
• electrically controlled

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by STU Scientific Research Initiation Grant [No. NTF21051]; National Key Research and Development Program of China [No. 2021YFB3600300]; Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province [No. 2021A151501205]; National Natural Science Foundation of China-Guangdong Joint Fund [No. 2021A1515011931].