Dynamic Control of Hybrid Grafted Perfect Vector Vortex Beams

Abstract Perfect vector vortex beams (PVVBs) with inhomogeneous polarization and spiral phase profiles have attracted considerable interest due to their peculiar optical features. PVVBs are typically generated through the superposition of perfect vortex beams, which suffer from the limited number of topological charges (TCs) in the involved vortex beams. To meet the requirement of time-varying systems, dynamic control of PVVBs is desirable and hasn’t been demonstrated. A grafted perfect vortex beam (GPVB) is an artificially engineered vortex beam with multiple TCs that are impossible with a conventional vortex beam. Here, for the first time, we propose and experimentally demonstrate hybrid grafted perfect vector vortex beams (GPVVBs) and the dynamic control of these beams. Hybrid GPVVBs are generated through the superposition of new hybrid GPVBs with a novel multifunctional metasurface. The generated hybrid GPVVBs possess spatially variant rates of polarization change in 2D space due to the involvement of more TCs. Remarkably, each hybrid GPVVB features multiple different GPVVBs in the same beam, adding more design flexibility. Furthermore, these beams are dynamically tuned with a rotating half waveplate, making the metasurface function as a dynamic optical device. The generated dynamic GPVVBs may find applications in the fields where dynamic control is in high demand, including optical encryption, dense data communication, and multiple particle manipulation.