journal article·2026-02

Programmable Terahertz Grafted Vortex Interference Based on Patterned Transparent Electrodes and Liquid Crystal Anisotropy‐Induced Chiral Field

Huijun Zhao, Jiaxing Guo, Yiming Wang, Chengwei Song, Jing Liu, Hao Wang, Yunyun Ji, Shiqiang Zhao, Jierong Cheng, Fei Fan, Shengjiang Chang

Advanced Functional Materials· Volume 36· Issue 12
Publisher page

Abstract

Abstract The generation of vortex beams with multiple orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes by a single photonic device is of great attraction, which has important applications in information coding, anti‐interference transmission, and particle manipulation, but the active manipulation of their interference field still faces challenges from functional materials and device integration. In this work, a terahertz (THz) grafted vortex interference technique is demonstrated by means of a programmable metadevice that integrates patterned graphene electrodes, a liquid crystal layer, and a helical dielectric metasurface. In this approach, a liquid crystal anisotropy‐induced chiral field is generated to overcome spin‐locking restrictions between two co‐spin channels. The THz transparent electrode based on patterned graphene layers addresses the driving challenges of liquid crystal integrated non‐metallic metasurfaces and enables dynamic phase reconstruction with multi‐pixel and multilevel encoding control. Finally, the experimental results show that a total of 2 × 5 16 interference patterns can be synthesized and quasi‐continuously controlled in the 0.5–0.6 THz band with different spatial grafted OAMs via 16‐pixel encoding and different spin distribution ratios via 5‐level phase modulation. This strategy breaks through the limitations of vortex interference field states and independent spin channels, opening up new avenues for developing multifunctional photonic chips capable of executing complex optical tasks.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics · Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications · Terahertz technology and applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Institute of Modern Optics Tianjin Key Laboratory of Micro‐scale Optical Information Science and Technology Nankai University Tianjin 300350 China

Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies Nankai University Tianjin 300071 China

Tianjin Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Sensor and Sensing Network Technology Tianjin 300350 China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin Municipality

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