Effective SU(2) gadget: holonomic walk on higher-order Poincaré sphere

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Umar, Mohammad, Bansal, Sarvesh, Senthilkumaran, Paramasivam
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Umar, Mohammad
Bansal, Sarvesh
Senthilkumaran, Paramasivam
author_facet Umar, Mohammad
Bansal, Sarvesh
Senthilkumaran, Paramasivam
contents In a manner commensurate to the SU(2) gadget for the Poincaré sphere, which involves a combination of two quarter-wave plates and one half-wave plate regardless of their sequential order, an analogous construct for the higher-order Poincaré sphere had long remained elusive. To address this, we recently demonstrated, by modifying Euler-angle parameterization, that an optical gadget consisting of two quarter-wave $q$-plates and one half-wave $q$-plate, each endowed with the same topological charge $q$, operates as a viable SU(2) gadget for the higher-order Poincaré sphere, contingent upon the fulfillment of the holonomy condition. This work presents the controlled navigation on the higher-order Poincaré sphere through the proposed architecture, formulated under the concept of an effective waveplate and thus can be referred to as an effective SU(2) gadget. The notion of an effective waveplate refers to a coaxial arrangement of multiple waveplates that, under specific constraints, can act as a single waveplate. In this gadget, the relative alignment of the offset angles of the constituent $q$-plates emerges as the decisive parameter governing systematic navigation on the higher-order Poincaré sphere. This study bear direct relevance to the deterministic control and engineering of structured light, encompassing polarization singularities, vector vortex beams and topological optical fields. Moreover, these results holds potential applications in the contemporary research frontiers in singular optics, spin-orbit photonics and quantum communication.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_07670
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effective SU(2) gadget: holonomic walk on higher-order Poincaré sphere
Umar, Mohammad
Bansal, Sarvesh
Senthilkumaran, Paramasivam
Optics
In a manner commensurate to the SU(2) gadget for the Poincaré sphere, which involves a combination of two quarter-wave plates and one half-wave plate regardless of their sequential order, an analogous construct for the higher-order Poincaré sphere had long remained elusive. To address this, we recently demonstrated, by modifying Euler-angle parameterization, that an optical gadget consisting of two quarter-wave $q$-plates and one half-wave $q$-plate, each endowed with the same topological charge $q$, operates as a viable SU(2) gadget for the higher-order Poincaré sphere, contingent upon the fulfillment of the holonomy condition. This work presents the controlled navigation on the higher-order Poincaré sphere through the proposed architecture, formulated under the concept of an effective waveplate and thus can be referred to as an effective SU(2) gadget. The notion of an effective waveplate refers to a coaxial arrangement of multiple waveplates that, under specific constraints, can act as a single waveplate. In this gadget, the relative alignment of the offset angles of the constituent $q$-plates emerges as the decisive parameter governing systematic navigation on the higher-order Poincaré sphere. This study bear direct relevance to the deterministic control and engineering of structured light, encompassing polarization singularities, vector vortex beams and topological optical fields. Moreover, these results holds potential applications in the contemporary research frontiers in singular optics, spin-orbit photonics and quantum communication.
title Effective SU(2) gadget: holonomic walk on higher-order Poincaré sphere
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.07670