Integratable quarter-wave plates enable one-way angular momentum conversion

Abstract

Nanophotonic waveguides are the building blocks of integrated photonics. To date, while quarter-wave plates (QWPs) are widely used as common components for a wide range of applications in free space, there are almost no reports of Integratable QWPs being able to manipulate the angular momentum (AM) of photons inside nanophotonic waveguides. Here, we demonstrate two kinds of Integratable QWPs respectively based on the concept of abrupt phase change and birefringence effect. The orientation of the equivalent optical axis of an Integratable QWP is designable. Remarkably, a combination of two integratable QWPs with different equivalent optical axes leads to an integrated system that performances one-way AM conversion. Moreover, this system can be used as a point source that can excite different patterns on a metal surface via directional excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP). These results allow for the control of AM of light in nanophotonic waveguides, which are crucial for various applications with limited physical space, such as on-chip bio-sensing and integrated quantum information processing.