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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 43: Photonik III

Q 43.8: Talk

Thursday, March 13, 2008, 15:45–16:00, 2B/C

Polarization Singularities from unfolding an Optical Vortex through a Birefrigent Crystal — •Ulrich Schwarz and Florian Flossmann — Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany

An optical vortex incident on a birefringent crystal unfolds into a complex topological structure of lines of circular polarization (C lines) and surfaces of linear polarization (L surfaces) [F. Flossmann, U. T. Schwarz, Max Maier, and M. R. Dennis, Phys. Rev. Letters 95, 253901 (2005)]. The incident beam splits into two orthogonally polarized beams of ordinary and extraordinary polarization. Extraordinary refraction causes a shift of the extraordinarily polarized beam even under normal incidence. This shift together with the different phase velocities of both beams is the origin of an intriguing pattern of polarization singularities. We measure spatially resolved the full set of Stokes parameters after the beam passed the crystal to determine experimentally the spatial structure of the polarization singularities in three dimensions, two spatial directions (x, y) and one (L) corresponding to relative the phase retardation between ordinary and extraordinary beam. The observed unfolding of the initial phase singularity is the most generic case of the generation of polarization singularities in uniaxial or biaxial birefringent crystals. It can be describe in a very general way in terms of Stokes parameters where the polarization singularities arise naturally from the zeroes of the Stokes parameters [F. Flossmann, U. T. Schwarz, Max Maier, and M. R. Dennis, Optics Express 14, 11402 (2006)].