Dielectric Q-Plate for Millimeter-Wave Photonic Orbital Angular Momentum
应用文章
This application note demonstrates how to simulate a q-plate using Keysight's FullWAVE Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) tool. Orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing enables high data capacity for optical communications, and q-plates are key to creating the vortex beams required.
The modeled q-plate is made from nylon with subwavelength grooves cut on both sides and is optimized for 100 GHz operation. Using Radial-2D simulation, FullWAVE captures the device’s behavior with reduced computational time.
The simulation shows a right-hand circularly polarized Gaussian beam transforming into a vortex beam with l = ±2 OAM, creating a ring-shaped far-field intensity pattern. Phase monitors confirm the q-plate behaves as an inhomogeneous half-wave plate, introducing the expected π phase shift between orthogonal components.