Detecting cylindrical vector beams with an on-chip plasmonic spin-Hall metalens

In recent years, singular optical beams, including optical vortex (OV) beams with phase singularities and cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) with polarization singularities, have brought new degrees of freedom for many applications. Although there have been various microscale devices for OV detection, the detection of CVBs with a microscale device is still a challenge. Here, we propose a new method for detection of CVBs with a designed on-chip plasmonic spin-Hall metalens structure. The focal position of the metalens and the splitting effect of at focus are studied in both an analytical model and numerical simulation. The results demonstrate that the metalens can not only detect different polarization orders of incident CVBs but also have an ability to distinguish radial, azimuthal and other vectorial polarization states under the same order of CVBs. This method has potential applications in compact integrated optical communication and processing systems. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

In recent years, singular optical beams have brought new degrees of freedom for many applications. This study proposes a new method for the detection of polarization singularities in optical beams using a designed on-chip plasmonic spin-Hall metalens structure. The results demonstrate the potential of this method in compact integrated optical communication and processing systems.