title: The polarizing Sagnac interferometer: a tool for light orbital angular momentum sorting and spin-orbit photon processing.
abstract: In this paper we show that an optical setup based on a polarizing Sagnac interferometer combined with a Dove prism can be used as a convenient general-purpose tool for the generation, detection and sorting of spin-orbit states of light. This device can work both in the classical and in the quantum single-photon regime, provides higher sorting efficiency and extinction ratio than usual hologram-fiber combinations, and shows much higher stability and ease of alignment than Mach-Zehnder interferometer setups. To demonstrate the full potential of this setup, we also report some demonstrative experiments of several possible applications of this setup.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Slussarenko
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: D'Ambrosio
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Piccirillo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marrucci
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santamato
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010783:Photometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017785:Photons; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*