Coherence-induced depolarization effects in polarization singular beams

Abstract

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally coherence-induced depolarization effects in generic and higher index polarization singular beams endowed with C-point (or V-point) polarization singularity. The irradiance profiles and degree of polarization (DoP) distributions are found to be governed by spatial coherence length, polarization singularity index, and orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the superposition states of the beams. On reducing the coherence length, the DoP distribution in the V-point deteriorates uniformly. In contrast, C-point beams resist depolarization exhibiting anti-depolarization around the central core of the beam due to the nonzero net OAM of the beam. Interestingly, the polarization vortex structure remains preserved on reducing the spatial coherence length.