Polarization-based control of spin-orbit vector modes of light in biphoton interference

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the experimental generation and control of spin-orbit vector modes of light using an asymmetric interferometer, enabling tunable polarization and spatial structures, with implications for biphoton interference.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to generate and manipulate spin-orbit vector modes of light with controllable polarization and spatial properties using an interferometric setup.

Findings

Successful experimental generation of spin-orbit vector modes.

Controllable polarization and spatial distribution of light modes.

Predicted biphoton interference effects with tunable mode transformations.

Abstract

We report the experimental generation of a class of spin-orbit vector modes of light via an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer, obtained from an input beam prepared in a product state of its spin and orbital degrees of freedom. These modes contain a spatially varying polarization structure which may be controllably propagated about the beam axis by varying the retardance between the vertical and horizontal polarization components of the light. Additionally, their transverse spatial intensity distributions may be continuously manipulated by tuning the input polarization parameters. In the case of an analogous biphoton input, we predict that this device will exhibit biphoton (Hong-Ou-Mandel) interference in conjunction with the aforementioned tunable mode transformations.