Title
Monstar disclinations in the polarization of singular optical beams
Date Issued
01 April 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Khajavi B.
Colgate University
Publisher(s)
OSA - The Optical Society
Abstract
The control of spatial and polarization modes of optical beams enables the production of topological singularities encoded on the polarization of the light. This allows the study of topological disclinations not easily found in the natural setting. In this article we report on the observation of new features in disclinations realized with singular optical beams. They were prepared using three spatial modes bearing optical vortices in non-separable superpositions with circular polarization states. The disclinations involve asymmetric rotational dislocations, whose optical counterparts in the optical far field are known as C-points, and which are classified as monstars. They have been known to have a singularity index that can be positive, or negative as reported by us recently. Here we report on monstars with an index of zero. Monstars are characterized by having sectors bound by radial lines that involve curved lines radiating from the singularity. We found that kinks in otherwise smooth line patterns of asymmetric disclinations are scars of a separate but related pattern of line-slope discontinuities, carried optically by C-lines in the far field. These scars are indicative of the underlying structure or symmetry of the pattern. We present a general formalism to understand and generate monstars, along with measurements: The experimental results are in excellent agreement with theoretical modelings.
Start page
568
End page
575
Volume
34
Issue
4
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Óptica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85017157407
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of the Optical Society of America A: Optics and Image Science, and Vision
ISSN of the container
10847529
Sponsor(s)
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) (PHY1506321).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus