Highly efficient generation of vector beams through polarization holograms

We report a highly efficient and flexible method to yield vector beams (VBs) with spatially variant amplitude, phase and polarization by means of two polarization holograms (PHs). Left-and right-hand circularly polarized scalar beams, generated by the first hologram, are collinearly recombined by the second one to produce the vector beams. By taking advantage of the diffraction properties, the high efficiency, and the intrinsic achromaticity of the polarization holograms, the method aims to overcome the limitations related to stability and efficiency, making it attractive for applications. Theoretical analysis, based on the Jones formalism, and experimental results are shown. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4801317]