A reconfigurable arbitrary retarder array as complex structured matter
Abstract
Abstract Tuneable retarder arrays, such as spatially patterned liquid crystal devices, have given rise to impressive photonic functionality, fuelling diverse applications ranging from microscopy and holography to encryption and communications. Presently these solutions are limited by the controllable degrees of freedom of structured matter, hindering applications that demand photonic systems with high flexibility and reconfigurable topologies. Here we demonstrate a compound modulator that implements a synthetic tuneable arbitrary retarder array as virtual pixels derived by cascading low functionality tuneable devices, realising full dynamic control of its arbitrary elliptical axis geometry, retardance value, and induced phase. Our approach offers unprecedented functionality that is user-defined and possesses high flexibility, allowing our modulator to act as a new beam generator, analyser, and corrector, opening an exciting path to tuneable topologies of light and matter.
Article Details
Authors (34)
Chao He
Department of Chemistry
Binguo Chen
Zipei Song
Zimo Zhao
Yifei Ma
Honghui He
Lin Luo
State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics
Tade Marozsak
An Aloysius Wang
Rui Xu
College & Hospital of Stomatology
Peixiang Huang
Jiawen Li
Xuke Qiu
Yunqi Zhang
Bangshan Sun
Jiahe Cui
Yuxi Cai
Yun Zhang
Andong Wang
Mohan Wang
Patrick Salter
Julian AJ Fells
Ben Dai
Shaoxiong Liu
Limei Guo
Yonghong He
Hui Ma
Key Laboratory of Sustainable Low-carbon Technologies for Textile Dyeing and Finishing, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Daniel J. Royston
Steve J. Elston
Qiwen Zhan
Chengwei Qiu
Stephen M. Morris
Martin J. Booth
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
Andrew Forbes