Abstract

Light propagation in gradient media and curved spaces induce intriguing phenomena, such as focusing and self-imaging, thus delivering a wide range of applications. However, these systems are limited to excitations without orbital angular momentum, which may produce unforeseen results. Here, we demonstrate the reconstructions (or called imaging to some extent) of optical vortices (OVs) in two-dimensional (2D) gradient media and three-dimensional (3D) curved spaces. We present the evolution of OVs in two types of generalized Maxwell fisheye (GMFE) lenses from the perspective of geometrical and wave optics, and use coherent perfect absorbers (CPAs) to better recover the OVs in the converging position. Furthermore, we also demonstrate such phenomena in two types of 3D compact closed manifolds—sphere and spindle—which are also called geodesic lenses. Surprisingly, the results we obtained in 3D curved spaces can be seen as a strong verification of the Poincaré–Hopf theorem. Our work provides a new, to the best of our knowledge, platform to investigate the evolution of OVs on curved surfaces.

© 2023 Optica Publishing Group

Curved space plasmonic optical elements

Danveer Singh, Ana Libster-Hershko, Roy Shiloh, and Ady Arie
Opt. Lett. 44(21) 5234-5237 (2019)

Few-cycle optical vortices for strong-field physics

Matthieu Guer, Martin Luttmann, Jean-François Hergott, Fabien Lepetit, Olivier Tcherbakoff, Thierry Ruchon, and Romain Géneaux
Opt. Lett. 49(1) 93-96 (2024)

Propagation of higher-order spatiotemporal vortices

Miguel A. Porras
Opt. Lett. 48(2) 367-370 (2023)

Experimental generation of perfect optical vortices through strongly scattering media

Weiming Yuan, Yi Xu, Kanpei Zheng, Songnian Fu, Yuncai Wang, and Yuwen Qin
Opt. Lett. 46(17) 4156-4159 (2021)

Propagation of noninteger cylindrical vector vortex beams in a gradient-index fiber

Xiaojin Yin, Pengqi Hao, Yupei Zhang, Ziyue Zhao, Jinze Wu, and Jinhong Li
Opt. Lett. 48(9) 2484-2487 (2023)