Digital toolbox for vector field characterization

Vectorial structured light fields have displayed properties advantageous in many disciplines ranging from communications, microscopy and metrology to laser cutting and characterizing quantum channels. The generation of these fields has been made convenient through the implementation of nanophotonic metasurfaces amongst other static and digital techniques. Consequently, the detection and characterisation of these fields is of equal importance. Most existing techniques involve using separate polarization optics and correlation filters to perform the projective measurements - or are only able to perform such measurements on a subset of possible vector states. We present a compact, fully automated measurement technique based on a digital micro-mirror device (DMD), which facilitates the complete, local and global, characterisation of the spatial mode and polarization degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) for arbitrary vectorial fields. We demonstrate our approach through the identification of relevant hybrid-order Poincare spheres, the reconstruction of state vectors on these spheres, as well as the recovery of the non-separability and states-of-polarization for a variety of vector beams.

Automated summary

Vectorial structured light fields have been widely applied in various disciplines, generated using nanophotonic metasurfaces and other techniques, making detection and characterization equally important. This study presents a compact, fully automated measurement technique based on a digital micro-mirror device for complete characterization of spatial mode and polarization degrees-of-freedom for arbitrary vectorial fields.