In this work we combine a geometric phase lens and a telescope system to produce an optical system with two polarization controlled real foci with equal magnification. And we apply it to characterize vortex beams and vector beams, splitting longitudinally the circular polarization components and focusing them into different axial planes.
This work was develop din collaboration with our friends Asticio Vargas and Fabián Torres-Ruiz, from Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco (Chile). And it is part of the PhD Thesis of Aarón Cofré.
On July 10th 2018, Aarón Cofré presented the defense of his PhD Thesis entitled Development of advanced diffractive systems for the generation of optical vortices and structured polarized beams.
The Thesis has been supervised by Ignacio Moreno and Asticio Vargas, and included various experimental studies on how to generate optical vortices and vector beams.
On July 9th, 2018, Santiago López, student of the Grade of Telecommunications Engineering, defended his final degree project entitled Caracterización de moduladores de cristal líquido para la generación de hologramas de fase y su optimización.
In this work, Santiago developed a characterization of the phase properties of some new displays acquired at the TecnOPTO Lab, and developed new methods and designs to generate phase-only holograms with them.
The project, supervised by Ignacio Moreno, received the maximum qualification
In this work we present a universal design and proof-of-concept of a tunable linear retarder of uniform wavelength response in a broad spectral range. It consists of two half-wave retarders (HWR) between two quarter-wave retarders (QWRs), where the uniform retardance can be tuned continuously by simply rotating one of the HWRs. A proof-of-concept of this design is built by using commercially available Fresnel rhomb retarders that provide retardation with almost wavelength uniformity in the visible and near infrared from 450 to 1550 nm. The system is experimentally demonstrated to control the state of polarization of a super-continuum laser.
The work has been developed in collaboration with Asticio Vargas, from Universidad de la Frontera, Chile. And it is part of the PhD thesis of Abdelghafour Messaadi.
This paper deals with the realization go a zoom lens system that used two liquid-crystal SLMs, so different magnifications can be obtained without any moving elements, simply by changing the focal length of the lenses displayed in each SLM. We include results with positive and negative magnifications. And we analyze the limits imposed by the limited spatial resolution of the SLMs.
The work has been developed at the Department of Physics at San Diego State University, with the participation of Ignacio Moreno.
The conference How Photonics lights the world delivered by Prof. Boreman at University Miguel Hernández on May 21st, 2018 is now available at the following link. This is part of the International Day of Light celebration.
2017 SPIE President Prof. Glenn Boreman has visited University Miguel Hernandez on May 21st, 2018, as part of his visit to Spain to participate at the events of the International Day of Light. Prof. Boreman is Chair of the Department of Physics and Optical Science at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and Director of the Center for Optoelectronics & Optical Communications.
He delivered the conference How Photonics lights the world at the Politechnical School of Elche, with great success of audience of professors and students. Below, with Augusto Beléndez (Univ. Alicante), Javier Alda (Univ. Complutense) and Inmaculada Pascual (Univ. Alicante). SPIE Women in Optics planners were handed in to the young attendees to promote optics and photonics.
TecnOPTO participated again at FecitElx, the science and technology fair of Elche. On May 5th a KHET tournament was organized. This laser chess game was arranged by students of Computer Engineering of UMH. The winners received one KHET game. In the picture, Maria del Mar and the students organizing the tournament!
TecnOPTO participó de nuevo esta año en FecitElx, la feria de ciencia ay tecnología de Elche. El día 5 de mayo se organizó un torneo de KHET, el ajedrez láser. Estudiantes de Ingeniería Informática de la UMH fueron los encargados de la organización del torneo. Los ganadores fueron premiados con un juego KHET. En la foto aparecen María de Mar y los estudiantes de la UMH organizadores del torneo.
The presentation of Dr. Sirona Valdueza, researcher “Ramon y Cajal” at the Department of Electronics of University of Alcalá and former student of TecnOPTO is now available. This seminar was recorded on February 26th, 2018, in the Workshop “La Ciencia tiene nombre de mujer”
It deals with the use of liquid-crystal polymer q-plates operated at different wavelengths. We show how a broadband spectral characterization allows identifying the wavelengths with retardance values relevant for vector beam generation (π, π/2, and 3π/2). The wavelength is then used as a tuning parameter to change the device performance from the standard half-wave q-plate to a positive or a negative quarter-wave q-plate.
We present a simple procedure to derive the polarization distribution of the generated vector beams, and show that they can produce hybrid vector beams when operated at non-design wavelenths. Therefore, these results could extend the use of commercial q-plates for multicolour vector beam applications.
This work has been done in collaboration with Prof. Jeffrey A. Davis and Isaiah Abella, from San Diego State University.
We published a new paper in Optics & Lasers in Engineering entitled Geometrical-phase lens based optical system for the spin-splitting of vector beams. 
