Polar POLICRYPS Diffractive Structures Generate Cylindrical Vector Beams

TL;DR

This paper introduces a POLICRYPS-based liquid crystal diffractive device that converts circularly polarized light into cylindrical vector beams, enabling local polarization shaping for advanced optical applications.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel POLICRYPS fabrication method for creating birefringent diffraction gratings that generate cylindrical vector beams from circularly polarized light.

Findings

Successful fabrication of POLICRYPS diffractive structures

Effective conversion of circular to cylindrical vector beams

Characterization confirms desired polarization profiles

Abstract

Local shaping of the polarization state of a light beam is appealing for a number of applications. This can be achieved by employing devices containing birefringent materials. In this article, we present one such device that permits one to convert a uniformly circularly polarized beam into a cylindrical vector beam (CVB). This device has been fabricated by exploiting the POLICRYPS photocuring technique. It is a liquid-crystal-based optical diffraction grating featuring polar symmetry of the director alignment. We have characterized the resulting CVB profile and polarization for the cases of left and right circularly polarized incoming beams.