Harnessing optical vortex lattices in nematic liquid crystals

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Soft Matter Physics

Background:

• Liquid crystals are widely used in optical devices.
• Optical vortices possess unique phase properties with applications in information processing and microscopy.
• Controlling the spatial arrangement of optical vortices is crucial for advanced optical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the creation of programmable lattices of optical vortices.
• To utilize self-induced vortexlike defects in nematic liquid crystals for optical vortex generation.
• To establish a method for converting input light beams into output vortex beams with controllable topological charges.

Main Methods:

• Creating self-induced vortexlike defects within a nematic liquid crystal layer of a light valve.
• Utilizing these defects as photonic spin-to-orbital momentum couplers.
• Illuminating the liquid crystal with an array of circularly polarized input beams.

Main Results:

• Achieved programmable lattices of optical vortices with arbitrary spatial distributions.
• Demonstrated that each matter vortex acts as a spin-to-orbital momentum coupler.
• Converted input beams into an output array of vortex beams with topological charges matching the matter lattice structure.

Conclusions:

• Self-induced vortexlike defects in liquid crystals enable the creation of programmable optical vortex lattices.
• This method provides precise control over the spatial arrangement and topological charges of optical vortices.
• The findings offer a new pathway for advanced optical manipulation and information processing using liquid crystal light valves.