Figure 1

(a) The mode-splitting concept of optical OAM states, where m and l are the azimuthal index of polarization state and the topological charge of vortex phase, respectively. (b) Poincare sphere representation of polarization states for plane waves. The poles represent circular polarization, the equator linear polarization and the intermediate points elliptical polarization. The northern and southern hemispheres stand for the right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) elliptical polarization. The polarization states at antipodal points are orthogonal, and any other state of polarization is given as their linear combination. (c) Polarization distribution of three kinds of polarized beams in terms of m = −1, 0, and 1, respectively. (d) The weight of radial and azimuthal polarization component in the beam cross section of the three beams in (c).