Dual polarization Fourier transform processor using geometric-phase lenses

Abstract

This work presents a novel optical system for polarization image processing using geometric-phase (Pancharatnam-Berry) lenses. Such lenses are half-wave plates where the orientation of the fast (slow) axis follows a quadratic relation with the radial coordinate, and they present the same focal length but opposite sign for left and right circular polarizations. Therefore, they split an input collimated beam in a converging beam and a diverging beam with opposite circular polarizations. This coaxial polarization selectivity introduces a new degree of freedom in optical processing systems and makes it interesting for imaging and filtering applications that require polarization sensitivity. Here we profit from these properties to build an optical Fourier filter system with polarization sensitivity. A telescopic system is used to have access to two real Fourier transform planes, one for each circular polarization. A second symmetric optical system is used to recombine the two beams onto a single final image. As a result, polarization sensitive optical Fourier filtering can be applied, as demonstrated with simple bandpass filters.