High-speed Stokes vector receiver enabled by a spin-dependent optical grating

Abstract

Stokes vector direct detection is a promising, cost-effective technology for short-distance communication applications. Here, we design and fabricate a spin-dependent liquid crystal grating to detect light polarization states. By separating the circular and linear components of incident light, the polarization states can be resolved with accuracy of up to 0.25°. We achieved Stokes vector direct detection of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), 8PSK, and 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation signals with 32, 16, and 16 GBd rates, respectively. We integrated the system, including the grating, photodetectors, and optical elements, on a miniaturized printed circuit board and demonstrated high-speed optical communications with 16 GBd rate QPSK signals.

Electro-optic properties of polystyrene particle-laden polymer-stabilized liquid crystals

“…The rising behaviour of the viscosity has often been observed for PLLCs. [54][55][56][57] It can result from molecular interactions between nanodopants in the bulk and liquid crystal molecules if one assumes that at least some of the nanospheres stayed dispersed despite the aggregation and sedimentation. Notably, the director distortions around the dispersed particles (see Fig.…”

“…Liquid crystals (LCs) are well-known for their applications in optic technologies which include displays, 1 smart windows, 2 terahertz filters, 3 photonic crystals, 4 optical gratings, 5 lasers, 6 and others. With the aim of improving the characteristics of these devices and developing new technological concepts, various composites of liquid crystals and other materials are being studied.…”

Diffractive optical elements 75 years on: from micro-optics to metasurfaces

“…(f) Metasurface-patterned dielectric waveguides can be employed as linear- and circular-polarization (de)multiplexers, respectively shown in the top and bottom [334] . (g) Arbitrary Stokes vector detection using a PB phase metagrating [335] .…”

“…Xie et al. recently demonstrated a spin-dependent grating with the PB phase integrated with LCs to detect light polarization states [335] , as shown in Fig. 30(g).…”

Optimized optical catenary structures empower compact on-chip polarization detector

“…By adjusting the geometric parameters of nanostructures constituting the metasurfaces, manipulation of optical characteristics such as amplitude, phase, and polarization has been achieved [9][10][11][12][13][14] , leading to the realization plethora of ultrathin optical devices, including metalenses, holographic devices, and orbital angular momentum generators, etc [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] . Due to its inherent advantages of high sensitivity and high integration, polarization detectors based on metasurface designs have garnered widespread attention [23][24][25][26] . The optical catenary structure, characterized by its continuous metasurface architecture with linear phase variation and a rich array of electromagnetic field modes 27 , has been extensively srudied since its invention in 2015.…”