Asian Journal of Physics Vol. 33, No 12 (2024) 783-792

Dynamic generation of cylindrical vector beams through a liquid crystal variable retarder and a q-plate

Edgar Medina-Segura1, Dayver Daza-Salgado1, J A Negrete-Espino2, and Carmelo Rosales-Guzmán1
1Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A. C., Loma del Bosque 115, Lomas del Campestre, 37150, León, Guanajuato, México
2División de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Universidad de Guanajuato, Loma del Bosque 103,
Lomas del Campestre, 37150, León, Guanajuato, México
Dedicated to Prof (Dr) Daniel Malacara-Hernández

For the past two decades, complex light fields, nonseparable in their spatial and polarisation degrees of freedom, have attracted a great amount of interest across a wide variety of research fields. Hence, developing novel techniques for their generation has become a topic of late. In particular, techniques capable to generate vector beams in a dynamic way, that is, with the capability to change rapidly from one to another, are of great interest in various research fields. As such, in this manuscript, we put forwards a technique capable to generate dynamic cylindrical vector beams on the Higher-Order Poincaré Sphere by combining a liquid crystal variable retarder (LCVR) on a motorized rotation mount and a q-plate. First, we present the curve of retardance as a function of applied voltage for a LCVR. After that, we show experimental results for cylindrical vector beams which show a high quality, as determined by the Concurrence computed for each case. This technique is of great relevance for applications where the dynamic modulation of vector beams brings additional capabilities, for example, in optical communications or optical tweezers. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Doi: 10.54955/AJP.33.12.2024.783-792
Keywords: Vector beams, Optical polarisation, q-plate, Wave-retarders.

Peer Review Information
Method: Single- anonymous; Screened for Plagiarism? Yes
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