Polarization-controlled evolution of light transverse modes and associated Pancharatnam geometric phase in orbital angular momentum
Polarization-controlled evolution of light transverse modes and associated Pancharatnam geometric phase in orbital angular momentum
We present an easy, efficient, and fast method to generate arbitrary linear combinations of light orbital angular-momentum eigenstates $\ensuremath{\ell}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2$ starting from a linearly polarized TEM${}_{00}$ laser beam. The method exploits the spin-to-orbital angular-momentum conversion capability of a liquid-crystal-based $q$ plate and a Dove prism inserted into a Sagnac polarizing interferometer. …