Manipulating the Orbital Angular Momentum of Light at the Micron Scale with Nematic Disclinations in a Liquid Crystal Film

Charles Loussert (1) , Ulysse Delabre (1) , Etienne Brasselet (1)

1 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine

We report on the experimental manipulation of the orbital angular momentum of light by exploiting a kind of topological defects that spontaneously appear in nematics--disclinations--as microscopic optical spin-orbit interfaces whose operating wavelength can be controlled electrically. Using six different kinds of disclinations, we demonstrate the efficient generation of both scalar and vectorial singular light beams with a broad topological diversity from a fundamental Gaussian beam.

Mots clés: Defects in liquid crystals; Optical angular momentum and its quantum aspects; Optical elements; devices and systems; Birefringence; polarization

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Optique [physics.optics]

Charles Loussert, Ulysse Delabre, Etienne Brasselet. Manipulating the Orbital Angular Momentum of Light at the Micron Scale with Nematic Disclinations in a Liquid Crystal Film. Physical Review Letters, 2013, 111 (3), pp.037802. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.037802⟩. ⟨hal-00845663⟩