Independent and simultaneous tailoring of amplitude, phase, and complete polarization of vector beams

Abstract: We present an approach that enables complete control over the amplitude, phase and arbitrary polarization state on the Poincar\'e sphere of an optical beam in a 4-f system with a spatial light modulator (SLM). The beams can be constructed from a coaxial superposition of x- and y-linearly polarized light, each carrying structured amplitude profile and phase distributions by using an amplitude-modulated mask imposed on the SLM. The amplitude, phase and polarization distribution of vector beams with four free parameters can be tailored independently and simultaneously by the SLM.