Switchable anisotropic diffraction mode filter based on fork-like liquid crystal gratings

Abstract

The interaction of liquid crystal (LC) fork-like gratings (FLGs) with a Laguerre–Gaussian beam of the TEM00 mode is described. It is experimentally shown that when the direction of the light polarization vector differs from the direction of the LC eigenvectors, the medium behaves as an FLG with a controlled modulation depth, and in the opposite case, it is isotropic and homogeneous. Distributions of the intensities of the longitudinal section of the beam in the infinitely far field are given depending on the FLG rotation angle in the plane perpendicular to the direction of beam propagation. It is shown that the LC FLG functions as a switchable anisotropic diffraction mode filter.