Polarization shaping of Poincaré beams by polariton oscillations
Abstract
We propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a generation of light pulses whose polarization varies temporally to cover selected areas of the Poincaré sphere with tunable swirling speed and total duration (1 ps and 10 ps respectively in our implementation). The effect relies on the Rabi oscillations of two polarized fields in the strong coupling regime, excited by two counter-polarized and delayed pulses. The interferences of the oscillating fields result in the precession of the Stokes vector of the emitted light while polariton lifetime imbalance results in its drift from a circle on the sphere of controllable radius to a single point at long times. The positioning of the initial and final states allows to engineer the type of polarization spanning, including a full sweeping of the Poincaré sphere. The universality and simplicity of the scheme should allow for the deployment of time varying polarization fields at a technologically exploitable level.
- Publication:
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Light: Science & Applications
- Pub Date:
- November 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1038/lsa.2015.123
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1412.4758
- Bibcode:
- 2015LSA.....4E.350C
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Physics - Optics
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary videos: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0QCllnLqdyBSHNtSjlyWjN1UFU