title: Polarization-controllable Airy beams generated via a photoaligned director-variant liquid crystal mask.
abstract: Researches on Airy beams have grown explosively since the first demonstration in 2007 due to the distinguishing properties of nondiffraction, transverse acceleration and self-healing. To date, a simple and compact approach for generating Airy beams in high quality and efficiency has remained challenging. Here, we propose and demonstrate a liquid crystal (LC) polarization Airy mask (PAM) featured by spatially variant LC azimuthal director. The PAM is fabricated through photoaligning LC via a polarization-sensitive alignment agent suophonic azo dye SD1. Thanks to the special design, a novel feature of polarization-controllable switch between dual Airy beams of orthogonal circular polarization is presented. The molecular-level continuity of LC director significantly improves the quality and efficiency of resultant Airy beams. Besides, the PAM can handle intense light due to the absence of absorptive electrodes. Additional merits of compact size, low cost and broad wavelength tolerance are also exhibited. This work settles a fundamental requirement for Airy beam applications of optical manipulations, biology science and even some uncharted territories.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Bing-Yan
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Li-Yang
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Shi-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Center for Display Research, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chigrinov
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Lu