Achieving arbitrary polarization control using complex birefringent meta-materials

Abstract

We demonstrate that the key to realizing arbitrary control over pairs of polarization states of light, i.e. transforming an arbitrarily polarized pair of input states to an arbitrarily polarized pair of output states, is the ability to generate pairs of states with orthogonal polarizations from non-orthogonal pairs of initial states. We then develop a new class of non-Hermitian meta-materials, termed complex birefringent meta-materials, which are able to do exactly this. Such materials could facilitate the detection of small polarization changes in scattering experiments, as well as enable new polarization multiplexing schemes in communications networks.