Wang Jiazhou, Cao Axiu, Pang Hui, Zhang Man, Wang Guangyi, Chen Jian, Shi Lifang, Deng Qiling, Hu Song
Opt Express. 2017 May 29;25(11):12531-12540. doi: 10.1364/OE.25.012531.
Vector optical field has recently gained interest in a variety of application fields due to its novel characteristics. Conventional approaches of generating vector optical fields have difficulties in forming highly continuous polarization and suffer from the issue of high energy utilization rates. In order to address these issues, in this study a single optical path was proposed to generate vector optical fields where the birefringent phase plate modulated a linear polarized light into a vector optical field, which was then demodulated to a non-uniform linear polarization distribution of the vector optical field by the polarization demodulation module. Both a theoretical model and numerical simulations of the vector optical field generator were developed, illustrating the relationship between the polarization distribution of the target vector optical field and the depth distribution of the birefringent phase plate. Furthermore, the birefringent phase plate with predefined surface distributions was fabricated by grayscale exposure and ion etching. The generated vector optical field was experimentally characterized, capable of producing continuous polarization with high light energy utilization ratio, consistent with simulations. This new approach may have the potential of being widely used in future studies of generating well-controlled vector optical fields.
矢量光场由于其新颖的特性，近年来在各种应用领域受到关注。传统的生成矢量光场的方法在形成高度连续的偏振方面存在困难，并且存在能量利用率高的问题。为了解决这些问题，在本研究中，提出了一种单光路来生成矢量光场，其中双折射相位板将线偏振光调制为矢量光场，然后通过偏振解调模块将其解调为矢量光场的非均匀线偏振分布。开发了矢量光场发生器的理论模型和数值模拟，说明了目标矢量光场的偏振分布与双折射相位板深度分布之间的关系。此外，通过灰度曝光和离子蚀刻制备了具有预定义表面分布的双折射相位板。对产生的矢量光场进行了实验表征，能够以高光能量利用率产生连续偏振，与模拟结果一致。这种新方法可能有潜力在未来生成可控矢量光场的研究中得到广泛应用。
