DMD-based generation of vector beams through a common-path interferometer

Abstract

Complex vector modes of light, non-separable in their spatial and polarisation degrees of freedom, are revolutionising a wide variety of research fields. It is therefore not surprising that the generation techniques have evolved quite dramatically since their inception. At present it is common to use computer-controlled devices, among which digital micromirror devices have become popular. Some of the reason for this are their low-cost, their polarisation-insensitive and their high-refresh rates. As such, in this manuscript we put forward a novel technique characterised by its high stability, which is achieved through a common-path interferometer. We demonstrate the capabilities of this technique experimentally, first by generating arbitrary vector modes on a higher-order Poincaré sphere, secondly, by generating vector modes in different coordinates systems and finally, by generating various vector modes simultaneously. Our technique will find applications in fields such as optical manipulations, optical communications, optical metrology, among others.

7 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Electromagnetic Angular Momentum
• Electromagnetic Force and Momentum
• Superpixel-based spatial amplitude and phase modulation using a digital micromirror device
• Nonseparable states of light: From quantum to classical
• Shifting the Quantum-Classical Boundary: Theory and Experiment for Statistically Classical Optical Fields
• Shaping Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes with binary gratings using a Digital Micromirror Device
• Generation and characterization of complex vector modes with digital micromirror devices