In this study, the phase modulation ability of a dielectric Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phase metasurface, consisting of nanofins, is theoretically analyzed. It is generally considered that the optical thickness of the unit cell of a PB-phase metasurface is λ/2, i.e., a half-waveplate for polarization conversion. It is found that the λ/2 is not essential for achieving a full 2π modulation. Nevertheless, a λ/2 thickness is still needed for a high polarization conversion efficiency. Moreover, a gradient phase metasurface is designed. With the help of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method, the wavefront errors of the gradient phase metasurface are reduced by fine-tuning the rotation angle of the nanofins. The diffraction efficiency of the gradient phase metasurface is thus improved from 73.4% to 87.3%. This design rule can be utilized to optimize the efficiency of phase-type meta-devices, such as meta-deflectors and metalenses.

Five cell parameters of a twisted nematic liquid crystal device (TNLCD), namely, cell gap, pretilt angle, twisted angle, rubbing angle, and phase retardation are precisely measured by the developed amplitude-sensitive heterodyne polarimeter (ASHP) simultaneously integrated with Yeh and Gu's transfer matrix and Lien's transfer matrix. This proposed method can characterize the five cell parameters under the arrangement of a single wavelength at normal incidence. In contrast to the conventional methods on cell parameter detection either by adopting a multiple wavelength laser beam at normal incidence or by using a single wavelength laser beam under oblique incident to TNLCD, this method presents the advantage of not only having a simple setup but also the possibility to measure simultaneously five cell parameters on the characterization of TNLCD at high speed.

In this article, we propose an optical heterodyne common-path gyroscope which has common-path configuration and full-dynamic range. Different from traditional non-common-path optical heterodyne technique such as Mach-Zehnder or Michelson interferometers, we use a two-frequency laser light source (TFLS) which can generate two orthogonally polarized light with a beat frequency has a common-path configuration. By use of phase measurement, this optical heterodyne gyroscope not only has the capability to overcome the drawback of the traditional interferometric fiber optic gyro: lack for full-dynamic range, but also eliminate the total polarization rotation caused by SMFs. Moreover, we also demonstrate the potential of miniaturizing this gyroscope as a chip device. Theoretically, if we assume that the wavelength of the laser light is 1550nm, the SMFs are 250m in length, and the radius of the fiber ring is 3.5cm, the bias stability is 0.872 deg/hr.

This letter proposes an optical setup that is equivalent to an electrically controllable polarization element (ECPE). The principal axis of the ECPE can be changed by applying an electric signal on an electro-optic device of this setup. This ECPE can be applied for rotating a linear polarizer or a linear phase retarder with arbitrary phase retardation and can be operated at much higher rotation speed than the mechanical rotation. In contrast, the typical rotation speed of a mechanically rotating polarization element is ~100 Hz. The highest rotation speed of the ECPE is determined by the highest modulation frequency at which an electro-optic device can be correctly operated, which can range across several hertz to 300 kHz.