Fig. 1. Experimental setup for generating arbitrary vector beams. λ/2, half-wave plate; PBS, polarizing beam splitter; M, mirror; RAPM, right-angle prism mirror; SLM, phase-type spatial light modulator; λ/4, quarter-wave plate; L, lens. The elements enclosed in the dashed boxes compose triangular common-path interferometers.

Fig. 2. Intensity and polarization distributions of the radially (1) and azimuthally (2) polarized beams. (a) Light intensity distributions captured by CCD, (b)–(d) measurement results of normalized Stokes parameters (S1, S2, S3), and (e) polarization ellipse distributions.

Fig. 3. Generated vector beams on a higher order Poincaré sphere. (a) Schematic of polarizations on a higher order Poincaré sphere for l=1; (b), (c) experimental results of the generated vector beams for θ=0.08π, φ0=0 and θ=0.2π, φ0=π/6, respectively; (d), (e) vector beams for l=2 and 1/2, respectively, while θ=0, φ0=0.

Fig. 4. Experimental results of the generated arbitrary vector beams. (a), (b) Vector beams with double singularities, (c) vector beam with radially and azimuthally varied polarization, and (d) vector beam with taiji-shaped polarization distribution. Top: measured polarization distributions. Bottom: corresponding orientation distributions of polarizations.

Fig. 5. Generated vector beams (top) and their phase distributions (bottom). (a) Θ=φ, Ψ=−φ; (b) Θ=3φ, Ψ=2φ; (c) Θ=φ+π/6, Ψ=−2πr/260  μm.

Fig. 6. Amplitude modulation of vector beams. (a), (b) Vector beams of Laguerre–Gaussian modes, (c) radially polarized S-shaped beam, and (d) flower-shaped vector beam with double singularities.