Photon spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion via an electrically tunable $q$-plate

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a liquid crystal-based $q$-plate that uses electro-optic effects to electrically control photon spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in real-time, enabling dynamic manipulation of photon states.

Contribution

It introduces an electrically tunable $q$-plate utilizing liquid crystal electro-optic effects for real-time control of photon angular momentum conversion.

Findings

Achieved real-time control of liquid crystal $q$-plate retardation.

Enabled dynamic variation of photon orbital angular momentum.

Operated as an electrically driven spin-to-orbital angular momentum converter.

Abstract

Exploiting electro-optic effects in liquid crystals, we achieved real-time control of the retardation of liquid- crystal-based $q$-plates through an externally applied voltage. The newly conceived electro-optic $q$-plates can be operated as electrically driven converters of photon spin into orbital angular momentum, enabling a variation of the orbital angular momentum probabilities of the output photons over a time scale of milliseconds.