Generation of arbitrary vector fields based on a pair of orthogonal elliptically polarized base vectors

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 4177 - 4186
• Main Authors: Xu, Danfeng, Gu, Bing, Rui, Guanghao, Zhan, Qiwen, Cui, Yiping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 22.02.2016
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/oe.24.004177

We present an arbitrary vector field with hybrid polarization based on the combination of a pair of orthogonal elliptically polarized base vectors on the Poincaré sphere. It is shown that the created vector field is only dependent on the latitude angle 2χ but is independent on the longitude angle 2ψ on the Poincaré sphere. By adjusting the latitude angle 2χ, which is related to two identical waveplates in a common path interferometric arrangement, one could obtain arbitrary type of vector fields. Experimentally, we demonstrate the generation of such kind of vector fields and confirm the distribution of state of polarization by the measurement of Stokes parameters. Besides, we investigate the tight focusing properties of these vector fields. It is found that the additional degree of freedom 2χ provided by arbitrary vector field with hybrid polarization allows one to control the spatial structure of polarization and to engineer the focusing field.