Direct all-electrical decoding of vector vortex beams on chip

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Photonics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Vector vortex beams are structured light fields with complex polarization and phase properties.
• Detecting these beams, especially in an all-electrical and filter-free manner, presents a significant challenge for current technologies.
• Existing methods often struggle with simultaneous resolution of orbital angular momentum (OAM) and polarization states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate an integrated, all-electrical platform for the direct detection of vector vortex beams.
• To achieve simultaneous resolution of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) order and polarization state of vector vortex beams.
• To explore the application of this detection platform in optical communication systems.

Main Methods:

• Integration of van der Waals layered thermoelectric materials with a phase-gradient metagrating on a chip.
• Utilizing the metagrating to map OAM and polarization information onto surface plasmon polariton intensity distributions.
• Inducing directionally modulated photothermoelectric responses based on the mapped light field information.

Main Results:

• Successful demonstration of an on-chip, all-electrical detection platform for vector vortex beams.
• Simultaneous resolution of both OAM order and polarization state was achieved.
• A proof-of-concept two-dimensional encrypted optical communication protocol was implemented using the platform's capabilities.

Conclusions:

• The developed platform offers a scalable approach for high-dimensional light field detection.
• This technology lays the foundation for advanced optoelectronic systems in secure communications, quantum information, and imaging.
• The all-electrical, filter-free detection of vector vortex beams opens new avenues in photonic device development.