Polarization manipulation of radially polarized beams

Abstract

We used patterned radial polarizers to easily generate and detect radially polarized beams. We then showed how to spatially manipulate the two-dimensional polarization mapping provided by a radial polarizer using different waveplate systems to obtain new two-dimensional polarization states. One system is particularly useful, since it converts the radial polarized beam into the azimuthally polarized beam. The transformed beams were analyzed using linear, circular, and radial polarizers. The Jones matrix formalism was applied for the theoretical analysis.