Common-path generation of stable cylindrical perfect vector vortex beams of arbitrary order

Abstract

A highly flexible and efficient method of generating stable radially and azimuthally polarized perfect optical vortex beams and all higher order cylindrical perfect vector vortex beams is proposed and demonstrated. The method is the most convenient implementation of the coherent superposition of two orthogonally circularly polarized optical vortex beams of arbitrary integer topological charges. The proposed method employs a spatial light modulator to control the relative phase between the vertical and horizontal polarization components of an input perfect vortex beam in a common-path configuration to generate arbitrary ordered cylindrical perfect vector vortex beams by changing the reference gray-level value. Calibration curve of relative phase vs grayscale of the phase function on the spatial light modulator is obtained to facilitate the determination of required phase-offset using pre-calculated grayscale color-map. The generated beams consist of high mode purity and states of polarization, as obtained from measured spatially resolved Stokes parameter, are uniformly distributed throughout the beam cross-section. The interference pattern of the two beams in a projected linear polarization state also give the cylindrically symmetric petal beams with a control over the number and orientation of petals.