Coherent control of optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in metasurface

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a metasurface that enables full, tunable control of optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion through coherent interference, advancing the development of functional optical devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel metasurface design utilizing Pancharatnam-Berry phase elements for actively controllable angular momentum conversion.

Findings

Achieved high-efficiency, tunable spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion.

Demonstrated control via interference of two incident beams.

Potential for practical optical device applications.

Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate that a metasurface consisting of Pancharatnam-Berry phase optical elements can enable the full control of optical spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion. Our approach relies on the critical interference between the transmission and reflection upon the metasurfaceto create actively tunable and controllable conversion with a high output via coherent control of the two incident beams. The introduced control methodology is general and could be an important step toward the development of functional optical devices for practical applications.