Reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry diffractive optics with photopatterned ferroelectric nematics

Hui-Feng Chen; Xin-Yu Tao; Bo-Han Zhu; Jin-Tao Pan; Ling-Ling Ma; Chao Chen; Wen-Guo Zhu; Wei Chen; Yan-Qing Lu

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01981-0

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Reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry diffractive optics with photopatterned ferroelectric nematics

Original Articles

- Reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry diffractive optics with photopatterned ferroelectric nematics
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 10, Pages: 3237-3249(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, 210023 Nanjing, China
  2.Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE), School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, 210023 Nanjing, China
  3.Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Department of Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, 510632 Guangzhou, China
- Author bio：
  
  Ling-Ling Ma (malingling@nju.edu.cn)
  Wei Chen (wchen@nju.edu.cn)
  Yan-Qing Lu (yqlu@nju.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01981-0
  CLC：
- Received：17 February 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-07-17，
  
  Accepted：23 July 2025，
  
  Published Online：10 September 2025，
  
  Published：31 October 2025
- Accepted：
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Chen, H. F. et al. Reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry diffractive optics with photopatterned ferroelectric nematics. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3237-3249 (2025).
DOI：

Chen, H. F. et al. Reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry diffractive optics with photopatterned ferroelectric nematics. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3237-3249 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01981-0.

摘要

Abstract

Planar optical elements incorporating space-varying Pancharatnam-Berry phase have revolutionized the manipulation of light fields by enabling continuous control over amplitude

phase

and polarization. While previous research focusing on linear functionalities using apolar liquid crystals (LCs) has attracted much attention

extending this concept to the nonlinear regime offers unprecedented opportunities for advanced optical processing. Here

we demonstrate the reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry LC diffractive optics in photopatterned ion-doped ferroelectric nematics. By customizing the spatial phase distribution of efficient second-harmonic excitation

we accomplish programmable beam steering of various optical states towards predefined diffraction directions. Experimental results reveal continuous evolution of diffraction orders

intensity distributions

and polarization states under electrically varying splay conditions

consistent with our theoretical predictions. This work opens new avenues for designing reconfigurable nonlinear beam shaping and steering devices with potential applications in advanced optical and quantum information processing.

关键词

Keywords

references

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