Abstract
Spin-orbital optical phenomena are closely related with light-matter interactions and have been of great interest in the last few years. Here, the effect of optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) on polarized waves carrying spin angular momentum (SAM) has been investigated experimentally by means of orbital polarization holography and analyzed with Jones matrices theoretically. We report that all-optical OAM-to-polarization manipulation can be realized with a controllable holographic grating recorded through the interference of orthogonally polarized beams in various helical modes in a kind of photo-alignment supermolecular liquid-crystalline films. The polarization states of diffraction beams can be controlled through adjusting the spatial degree of freedom of the recording light field. The OAM-controlled polarization manipulation is discussed in terms of Jones matrices and photoinduced birefringence. Because of the realization of OAM-to-SAM conversion, this work may find applications in a variety of devices.
Highlights
Transfer of optical angular momentum (AM) has been proposed in the last few decades as an effective tool to achieve optical manipulation, quantum communication and so on [1, 2]
We report that the polarization states of diffraction light from the recorded orbital polarization holographic grating (OPHG) can be controlled through the spatial degree of freedom of recording light
As orbital angular momentum (OAM) is added to the holographic recording field, the polarization state of the zeroth-order diffraction light is controlled to be lefthanded elliptically polarized, as reported on the Poincaré sphere in Figure 3A, which is different from the convention holographic grating whose polarization state is not modulated
Summary
Transfer of optical angular momentum (AM) has been proposed in the last few decades as an effective tool to achieve optical manipulation, quantum communication and so on [1, 2]. SAM is inherent in light beams with circular or elliptical polarization states and depends on the field vector rotations that take place in every point of the beam cross-section [3]. Polarization is a fundamental property of electromagnetic fields and the polarization state of light has substantial influence in an increasing number of optical experiments and theoretical models [5]. Optical communications, laser science, microscopy and metrology demand control of light polarization [6,7,8]. Optical vortex has become increasingly important recently [9, 10]. A vortex beam, with the spiral phase of exp(ilφ) with l being the topological charge (TC) and φ being the azimuth angle, possesses intrinsic OAM [11]. OAM of light provides the spatial degree of freedom, which can be of great benefit in many fields, such as holography [13, 14]
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