Spiral polarization rotators, rotating polarization ellipse axes clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the azimuth angle in the transverse plane, are considered. It is shown that spiral polarization rotators lead to a change in the order of optical vortices with circular polarization. A comparative analysis of spiral rotators of two types (polar and non-polar) is carried out, using a mirror that allows light to pass in the opposite direction through the rotator. The effect of spiral rotators on optical vortices in a resonator is studied. It is shown that spiral rotators can preserve or accumulate changes of the vortex order during the passage of the beam in both directions. The properties of the spiral rotator and the cube-corner reflector with a special phase-correcting coating, as a diffractive polarization-optical element, are compared.
Nesterov, A.V. and Niziev, V.G. (2000) Laser Beams with Axially Symmetric Polarization. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 33, 1817-1822. https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/33/15/310
[3]
Nesterov, A.V., Niziev, V.G. and Sokolov, A.L. (2001) Transformative Problem for Radial-Polarization Radiation. Optics and Spectroscopy, 90, 1018-1022. https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1380793
[4]
Dorn, R., Quabis, S. and Leuchs, G. (2005) Generation of a Radially Polarized Doughnut Mode of High Quality. Applied Physics B, 81, 597-600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-005-1887-1
[5]
Sokolov, A.L. (2008) Laser Beams with Regular Polarization Properties. Optics and Spectroscopy, 104, 138-139. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0030400X08010189
[6]
Zhan, Q. (2009) Cylindrical Vector Beams: From Mathematical Concepts to Applications. Advances in Optics and Photonics, 1, 1-57. https://doi.org/10.1364/AOP.1.000001
[7]
Coullet, P., Gil, G. and Rocca, F. (1989) Optical Vortices. Optics Communications, 73, 403-408. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4018(89)90180-6
[8]
Rozas, D., Law, C. and Swartzlander, G. (1997) Propagation Dynamics of Optical Vortices. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 14, 3054-3065. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.14.003054
[9]
Dennis, M.R., O’Holleran, K. and Padgett, M.J. (2009) Singular Optics: Optical Vortices and Polarization Singularities. In: Progress in Optics, Vol. 53, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 293-363. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6638(08)00205-9
[10]
Cheng, W. (2013) Optical Vortex Beams: Generation, Propagation and Applications. Dissertation, the University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 1-131.
[11]
Khonina, S.N., Karpeev, S.V., Alferov, S.V. and Soifer, V.A. (2015) Generation of Cylindrical Vector Beams of High Orders Using Uniaxical Crystals. Journal of Optics, 17, 065001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2040-8978/17/6/065001
[12]
Khonina, S.N., Savelyev, D.A. and Kazanskiy, N.L. (2015) Vortex Phase Elements as Detectors of Polarization State. Optics Express, 23, 17845-17859.
[13]
Soskin, M. and Vasnetsov, M.V. (2001) Singular Optics. In: Progress in Optics, Vol. 42, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 219-276. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6638(01)80018-4
[14]
Desyatnikov, A.S., Torner, L. and Kivshar, Y.S. (2005) Optical Vortices and Vortex Solitons. In: Progress in Optics, Vol. 47, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 219-319. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6638(05)47006-7
Karpeev, S.V., Khonina, S.N. and Alferov, S.V. (2015) Generation and Conversion of Mode Beams and Their Polarization States on the Basis of Diffractive Optical Element Application. Optical Engineering, 52, Article ID: 091718. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.52.9.091718
[17]
Sokolov, A.L. and Murashkin, V.V. (2011) Diffraction Polarization-Optical Elements with the Radial Symmetry. Optics and Spectroscopy, 111, 900-907. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0030400X11130212
[18]
Khonina, S.N. and Karpeev, S.V. (2011) Generating Inhomogeneously Polarized Higher-Order Laser Beams by Use of Diffractive Optical Elements. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 28, 2115-2123. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.28.002115
Allen, L., Beijersbergen, M.W., Spreeuw, R.J. and Woerdman, J.P. (1992) Orbital Angular Momentum of Light and the Transformation of Laguerre-Gaussian Laser Modes. Physical Review A, 45, 8185-8189. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.45.8185
[21]
Barnett, S.M. and Allen, L. (1994) Orbital Angular Momentum and Nonparaxial Light-Beams. Optics Communications, 110, 670-678. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4018(94)90269-0
[22]
Simpson, N.B., Dholakia, K. and Padgett, M.J. (1997) Mechanical Equivalence of Spin and Orbital Angular Momentum of Light: An Optical Spanner. Optics Letters, 22, 52-54. https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.22.000052
[23]
Bass, M. (2010) Handbook of Optics: Volume 1—Geometrical and Physical Optics, Polarized Light, Components and Instruments. 3rd Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
[24]
Akent’ev, A.S., Sadovnikov, M.A., Sokolov, A.L. and Simonov, G.V. (2017) Polarization Analysis of the Beam-Steering Device of Quantum Optical Systems. Optics and Spectroscopy, 122, 1008-1014. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0030400X17060029
[25]
Kotlyar, V.V., et al. (2005) Generation of Phase Singularity through Diffracting a Plane or Gaussian Beam by a Spiral Phase Plate. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 22, 849-861. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.22.000849
[26]
Khonina, S.N., Kotlyar, V.V., Shinkarev, M.V. and Soifer, V.A. (1992) The Rotor Phase Filter. Journal of Modern Optics, 39, 1147-1154. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500349214551151
[27]
Sadovnikov, M.A. and Sokolov, A.L. (2009) Spatial Polarization Structure of Radiation Formed by a Retroreflector with Nonmetalized Faces. Optics and Spectroscopy, 107, 201-206. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0030400X09080062
[28]
Crabtree, K. and Chipman, R. (2010). Polarization Conversion Cube-Corner Retroreflector. Applied Optics, 49, 5882-5890. https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.49.005882
[29]
Sokolov, A.L. (2013) Formation of Polarization-Symmetrical Beams Using Cube-Corner Reflectors. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 30, 1350-1357. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.30.001350
