Mimicking optical activity for generating radially polarized light.
We propose a new scheme for generating radially polarized light by mimicking optical activity using linear birefringence. It involves a birefringent spirally varying retarder sandwiched between two orthogonally oriented quarter-wave plates. Using Poincaré sphere representation, we show that the polarization transformation of such a scheme is equivalent to that of a spirally varying optical activity and is capable of generating radially polarized light. We demonstrate the proof-of-concept using y-cut crystalline quartz.
Phua
P B
PB
DSO National Laboratories, Singapore. ppohboon@alum.mit.edu
Lai
W J
WJ
Lim
Yuan Liang
YL
Tiaw
K S
KS
Lim
B C
BC
Teo
H H
HH
Hong
M H
MH