Polarimetric method of generating full Poincaré beams within a finite extent.

A novel polarimetric method of generating a variety of Poincaré beams such as half Poincaré beams and full Poincaré beams using doubly inhomogeneous wave plates (-plates) is proposed. In this method, every input state of polarization (SoP) through such a -plate generates a unique Poincaré beam, thereby giving access to a potentially infinite number of them. Furthermore, the generation of full Poincaré beams is presented here as an instance of the geometrical problem of mapping the surface of a sphere onto a plane, and this insight allows one to design -plates that convert the input SoP to every possible SoP, within a finite region of the beam.

Wavelength-adaptable effective q-plates with passively tunable retardance.

Wave retarders having spatially varying optical axes orientations, called q-plates are extremely efficient devices for converting spin to orbital angular momentum of light and for the generation of optical vortices. Most often, these plates are designed for a specific wavelength and have a homogeneous constant retardance. The present work provides a polarimetric approach for overcoming both these limitations.