Spectropolarimetric properties of vortex retarders

Abstract

Vortex retarders are optical retarders with a uniform retardance, but with a fast axis that varies azimuthally over the area of the optic. This affects the radial and azimuthal polarization components of the incoming beam. The vortex retarders discussed here generate TEM10 and TEM20 Laguerre-Gaussian beams. While several varieties of these vortex retarders exist, designed to function at specific wavelengths, and a few studies have reported their use at those wavelengths, almost no data exists detailing their polarimetric properties outside those wavelengths. Using a Mueller matrix spectropolarimeter with dual-rotating retarders, the polarization properties of four zero-order half-wave vortex retarders have been measured across a broad wavelength range of 300–1100 nm. This data contributes to a more complete description of the spectral properties of these popular retarders.