Abstract

Transverse modes of light have been widely exploited in both classical and quantum optics in recent years. Among the devices to manipulate the transverse modes of light, a $\pi /2$ converter is a fundamental and important one that analogs to the quarter-wave plate in the polarization degree of freedom. While a $\pi /2$ converter is typically achieved by a pair of well-adjusted cylindrical lenses, it suffers from complexity in its installation and adjustment, which strongly limits its practical applications. In this paper an integrated design of a $\pi /2$ converter is reported. We compute the necessary parameters for manufacturing according to refractive theory of a cylindrical surface. Based on the change of refractive indices, we simulate the response of Gouy phase versus wavelengths. We also implement an experiment to verify the conversion between Laguerre–Gaussian modes and Hermite–Gaussian modes by using our compact $\pi /2$ converter to confirm its simple adjustment and reliable performance in practice.

© 2018 Optical Society of America

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