Phase Singularities to Polarization Singularities

Figure 12

Construction of various spheres. (a) Fundamental Poincaré sphere: orthogonal spin angular momentum (SAM) states at the poles. (b) Modal sphere: orthogonal orbital angular momentum (OAM) states at the poles. (c) Higher order Poincaré sphere: orthogonal SAM and OAM states at the poles with equal magnitude of OAM states. (d) Hybrid order Poincaré sphere: orthogonal SAM and OAM states at the poles with different OAM states. Note that in each sphere, the eigenstates are different.