title: Formation of linearly polarized light with axial symmetry by use of space-variant subwavelength gratings.
abstract: We present a novel method for forming linearly polarized axially symmetric beams with various polarization orders that is based on computer-generated space-variant subwavelength gratings. We introduce and experimentally demonstrate that our space-variant polarization state manipulations are accompanied by a phase modification of a helical structure that results from the Pancharatnam-Berry phase. We have verified the polarization properties of our gratings for laser radiation at 10.6-microm wavelength.
authors.affiliation: Optical Engineering Laboratory, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niv
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biener
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kleiner
authors.forename: Erez
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hasman