Geometric-phase-based shearing interferometry for broadband vortex state decoding

Given that spin and orbital angular momenta of photons have been widely investigated in optical communication and information processing systems, efficient decoding of optical vortex states using a single element is highly anticipated. In this work, a wavelength-independent holographic scheme has been proposed for total angular momentum sorting of both scalar and vector vortex states with a stationary broadband geometric-phase waveplate by means of reference-free shearing interferometry. The entangled spin and orbital angular momentum modes can be distinguished simultaneously based on the spin-orbit optical Hall effect in order to realize single-shot vortex detection. The viability of our scheme has also been demonstrated experimentally.

Automated summary

In this work, a wavelength-independent holographic scheme for efficient decoding of optical vortex states is proposed. The scheme utilizes reference-free shearing interferometry and the spin-orbit optical Hall effect to distinguish entangled spin and orbital angular momentum modes and achieve single-shot vortex detection. Experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed scheme.