Tunable Optical Vortex Arrays from a Single Nematic Topological Defect

Etienne Brasselet (1)

1 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine

We report on the generation of tunable structured light fields endowed with various sets of phase singularities from a single topological defect in a nematic liquid crystal mesophase. The experimental demonstration relies on the use of electric field-induced nonsingular topological defects called "umbilics."

Mots clés: Liquid crystals; Optical angular momentum and its quantum aspects; Defects in liquid crystals

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Etienne Brasselet. Tunable Optical Vortex Arrays from a Single Nematic Topological Defect. Physical Review Letters, 2012, 108 (8), pp.087801. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.087801⟩. ⟨hal-00676572⟩