Interactions of space-variant polarization beams with Zeeman-shifted rubidium vapor

TL;DR

This paper investigates how space-variant polarization beams interact with Zeeman-shifted rubidium vapor, demonstrating polarization control and analysis capabilities through experimental studies of specific beam types.

Contribution

It introduces experimental methods for controlling and analyzing space-variant polarization beams using Zeeman-shifted rubidium vapor, highlighting new applications in beam manipulation.

Findings

Polarization control demonstrated for radial and hybrid beams

Rubidium vapor acts as an effective analyzer for space-variant beams

Zeeman-shifted medium influences circular dichroism and birefringence

Abstract

Space variant beams are of great importance as a variety of applications have emerged in recent years. As such, manipulation of their degrees of freedom is highly desired. Here, by exploiting the circular dichroism and circular birefringence in a Zeeman-shifted Rb medium, we study the general interaction of space variant beams with such a medium. We present two particular cases of radial polarization and hybrid polarization beams where the control of the polarization states is demonstrated experimentally. Moreover, we show that a Zeeman-shifted atomic system can be used as an analyzer for such space variant beams