2026/04/30 by A. R. Pike, Anaïs Dorne, Lou Pickering +7 · 1 voice
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Photonic and Optical Devices #Quantum optics and atomic interactions
paper · doi:10.1364/oe.597259
openalex publication_date 2026/06/23 · openalex created_date 2026/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), with patterns of 1μm resolution and 10 8+ ‘pixels’, allow the formation of clean, diffraction-limited foci – but have a static phase profile. Spatial light modulators (SLMs) allow dynamic control of spatial beam intensity and phase – but are bulky and currently limited to roughly 10μm pixel sizes and 1 Mega-pixel formats. Here, we present a ‘best-of-both’ kind of FZP, scalable to rings orders of magnitude larger than those possible via direct SLM generation. It is equivalent to a plano-convex donut lens, whereby light’s local intensity and global phase at the FZP map directly onto the focal plane. The same FZP under different SLM illumination can generate: rings and arcs, double-rings, phase windings, and ring lattices (or dynamic combinations thereof). The smooth and adaptable near-field waveguide that this enables will be ideal for Sagnac interferometry with ultracold atoms.