Polarized deep diffractive neural network for sorting, generation, multiplexing, and de-multiplexing of orbital angular momentum modes

The multiplexing and de-multiplexing of orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams are critical issues in optical communication. Optical diffractive neural networks have been introduced to perform sorting, generation, multiplexing, and de-multiplexing of OAM beams. However, conventional diffractive neural networks cannot handle OAM modes with a varying spatial distribution of polarization directions. Herein, we propose a polarized optical deep diffractive neural network that is designed based on the concept of dielectric rectangular microstructure meta-material. Our proposed polarized optical diffractive neural network is optimized to sort, generate, multiplex, and de-multiplex polarized OAM beams. The simulation results show that our network framework can successfully sort 14 kinds of orthogonally polarized vortex beams and de-multiplex the hybrid OAM beams into Gauss beams at two, three, and four spatial positions, respectively. Six polarized OAM beams with identical total intensity and eight cylinder vector beams with different topology charges have also been sorted effectively. Additionally, results reveal that the network can generate hybrid OAM beams with high quality and multiplex two polarized linear beams into eight kinds of cylinder vector beams. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement