Liquid-crystal splitter for generating and separating autofocusing and autodefocusing circular Airy beams

Bingyan Wei, Yuan Zhang, Peng Li, Sheng Liu, Wei Hu, Yanqing Lu, Yunlong Wu, Xianan Dou, Jianlin Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

A unique splitter is proposed and demonstrated to realize the generation and separation of autofocusing and autodefocusing circular Airy beams (CABs). The design of the splitter is derived from the Fourier transform of a CAB associated with the Pancharatnam–Berry phase, and the fabrication is carried out via a liquid-crystal photo-patterning technique. Autofocusing and autodefocusing CABs of orthogonal circular polarization states are spatially diffracted under the modulation of the splitter, and the energy distribution between these two CABs can be controlled by the incident polarization. A focal length of 40 cm is obtained, which can be customized as required. The propagation dynamics of the generated autofocusing and autodefocusing CABs are investigated, and the experimental results are in good accordance with the corresponding simulations. The additional merits of the splitter, such as reconfigurability, tunability, high efficiency, and wide operating wavelength range, may motivate novel applications of CABs in the areas of laser optics, biomedicine, and modern displays.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)26151-26160
Number of pages10
JournalOptics Express
Volume28
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - 31 Aug 2020

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