2023/08/02 by Akihiro Tomura, Tomura, Akihiro, Makoto Nomura +5
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Optical Polarization and Ellipsometry #Optics (physics.optics) #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.00881
openalex publication_date 2023/08/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report an optical method of generating arbitrary polarization states by manipulating the thicknesses of a pair of uniaxial birefringent plates, the optical axes of which are set at a crossing angle of π/4. The method has the remarkable feature of being able to generate a distribution of arbitrary polarization states in a group of highly discrete spectra without spatially separating the individual spectral components. The target polarization-state distribution is obtained as an optimal solution through an exploration. Within a realistic exploration range, a sufficient number of near-optimal solutions are found. This property is also reproduced well by a concise model based on a distribution of exploration points on a Poincaré sphere, showing that the number of near-optimal solutions behaves according to a power law with respect to the number of spectral components of concern. As a typical example of an application, by applying this method to a set of phase-locked highly discrete spectra, we numerically demonstrate the continuous generation of a vector-like optical electric field waveform, the helicity of which is alternated within a single optical cycle in the time domain.