Yang Hui, Ou Kai, Liu Qiang, Peng Meiyu, Xie Zhenwei, Jiang Yuting, Jia Honghui, Cheng Xinbin, Jing Hui, Hu Yueqiang, Duan Huigao
National Research Center for High-Efficiency Grinding, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, 410082, Changsha, China.
School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan Normal University, 410081, Changsha, China.
Light Sci Appl. 2025 Jan 26;14(1):63. doi: 10.1038/s41377-024-01738-1.
Accurately and swiftly characterizing the state of polarization (SoP) of complex structured light is crucial in the realms of classical and quantum optics. Conventional strategies for detecting SoP, which typically involves a sequence of cascaded optical elements, are bulky, complex, and run counter to miniaturization and integration. While metasurface-enabled polarimetry has emerged to overcome these limitations, its functionality predominantly remains confined to identifying SoP within the standard Poincaré sphere framework. The comprehensive detection of SoP on the higher-order Poincaré sphere (HOPS), however, continues to be a huge challenge. Here, we propose a general polarization metrology method capable of fully detecting SoP on any HOPS through a single measurement. The underlying mechanism relies on transforming the optical singularities and Stokes parameters into visualized intensity patterns, facilitating the extraction of all parameters that fully determine a SoP. We actualize this concept through a novel meta-device known as the metasurface photonics polarization clock, which offers an intuitive display of SoP using four distinct pointers. As a proof of concept, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate fully resolving SoPs on the 0th, 1st, and 2nd HOPSs. Our implementation opens up a new pathway towards real-time polarimetry of arbitrary beams featuring miniaturized size, a simple detection process, and a direct readout mechanism, promising significant advancements in fields reliant on polarization.
在经典光学和量子光学领域，准确且快速地表征复杂结构光的偏振态（SoP）至关重要。传统的SoP检测策略通常涉及一系列级联光学元件，体积庞大、结构复杂，与小型化和集成化背道而驰。尽管基于超表面的偏振测量技术已出现以克服这些限制，但其功能主要仍局限于在标准庞加莱球框架内识别SoP。然而，在高阶庞加莱球（HOPS）上全面检测SoP仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在此，我们提出一种通用的偏振测量方法，能够通过单次测量在任何HOPS上全面检测SoP。其潜在机制依赖于将光学奇点和斯托克斯参数转化为可视化强度图案，便于提取完全确定一个SoP的所有参数。我们通过一种名为超表面光子偏振时钟的新型超器件实现了这一概念，该器件使用四个不同的指针直观显示SoP。作为概念验证，我们在理论和实验上证明了能够完全分辨第0、1和2阶HOPS上的SoP。我们的实现为任意光束的实时偏振测量开辟了一条新途径，具有尺寸小型化、检测过程简单和直接读出机制等特点，有望在依赖偏振的领域取得重大进展。
