Spatially Tailored 3D Cylindrical Vector Beams Array Generation Based on Metasurface

Cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) that possess inhomogeneous spatial polarization distributions exhibit exceptional orthogonality between different modes, facilitating advanced applications in optical trapping, communication and quantum information processing. Nevertheless, existing CVB modulation suffers from limited channel capacity and uniform spatial vectorial distribution across diffraction orders, lacking flexible 3D multi-channel manipulation. Here, we investigate and experimentally demonstrate the spatially tailored 3D CVBs array generation via near-field superposition of right circularly polarized and left circularly polarized components based on a single metasurface, where the two polarization channels simultaneously produce 3D vortex beams (VBs) array with spatially varying and opposite topological charges spreading in M×N×P diffraction orders. The resulting 3D CVBs array exhibits distinct vectorial properties at each spatial diffraction order. Furthermore, we perform a comprehensive vectorial characterization and topological charge measurement of the generated high-capacity CVBs array and validate that the proposed method can be applied to construct complex vector vortex beams (VVBs) array. The engineered VVBs array incorporates multi-dimensional information of spatial position, spatial polarization distribution, and topological charge, endowing each diffraction order with distinctive and unique identity. While, the generation of 3D singular beams array unlocks new possibilities in optical manipulation, optical information encryption, parallel laser manufacturing, and optical metrology.