Higher-order laser mode converters with dielectric metasurfaces

A simple and compact converter based on the dielectric metasurface is proposed for the transformation of Gaussian mode to Hermite-Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian modes. We establish the relationship between the phase of a desired mode and the local orientation of the optical axis based on the evolution of Pancharatnam-Berry phase on Poincare sphere. By controlling the local orientation of the optical axis in the dielectric metasurface, we can achieve any desired higher-order laser mode. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America