Arbitrary optical wavefront shaping via spin-to-orbit coupling

TL;DR

This paper introduces innovative liquid crystal devices that utilize spin-to-orbit coupling and Pancharatnam-Berry phase to generate a wide variety of complex optical beams with high orbital angular momentum and tailored wavefronts.

Contribution

The paper presents novel liquid crystal devices capable of shaping optical wavefronts via spin-to-orbit coupling using the Pancharatnam-Berry phase, enabling diverse beam generation.

Findings

Successfully generated beams with ±200 units of orbital angular momentum

Produced various beam types including Bessel, Airy, and Ince-Gauss beams

Confirmed device performance through phase and polarization characterization

Abstract

Converting spin angular momentum to orbital angular momentum has been shown to be a practical and efficient method for generating optical beams carrying orbital angular momentum and possessing a space-varying polarized field. Here, we present novel liquid crystal devices for tailoring the wavefront of optical beams through the Pancharatnam-Berry phase concept. We demonstrate the versatility of these devices by generating an extensive range of optical beams such as beams carrying $\pm200$ units of orbital angular momentum along with Bessel, Airy and Ince-Gauss beams. We characterize both the phase and the polarization properties of the generated beams, confirming our devices' performance.