Geometric phase shaping of terahertz vortex beams

We propose a topological beam-shaping strategy of tera-hertz (THz) beams using geometric phase elements made of space-variant birefringent slabs. Quasi-monochromatic THz vortex beams are produced and characterized both in amplitude and phase from the reconstructed realtime two-dimensional imaging of the electric field. Nonseparable superpositions of such vortex beams are also obtained and characterized by two-dimensional polarimetric analysis. These results emphasize the versatility of the spin-orbit electromagnetic toolbox to prepare on-demand structured light endowed with polarization-controlled orbital angular momentum content in the THz domain, which should find many uses in future THz technologies. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America.