Liquid crystal anisotropic axicon for the generation of non-diffracting Bessel beams with longitudinally varying polarization

In this work we demonstrate a tunable liquid–crystal element of linear phase profile along the radial coordinate. In combination with a regular refractive axicon, it behaves as an anisotropic axicon, generating the collinear superposition of two orthogonally polarized Bessel beams with different pro...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Jankowski, Tomasz, Bennis, Noureddine, Spadlo, Anna, Algorri Genaro, José Francisco|||0000-0002-2654-583X, Sánchez López, María del Mar, Moreno Soriano, Ignacio
Format: article
Publication Date:2024
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repository:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/30603
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/30603
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Axicon
Polarization
Bessel beams
Description
Summary:In this work we demonstrate a tunable liquid–crystal element of linear phase profile along the radial coordinate. In combination with a regular refractive axicon, it behaves as an anisotropic axicon, generating the collinear superposition of two orthogonally polarized Bessel beams with different propagation constant. This superposition results in a Bessel beam where the state of polarization (SOP) varies periodically along propagation. Experimental results probe the voltage control of the SOP oscillating period, which agree well with theory. This compound axicon is a very compact and efficient way of generating Bessel beams with polarization modulation, thus representing a significant advantage over other methods reported in the literature that require bulk optical systems based on spatial light modulators.