Flexible manipulation of polarization conversion and compact generation of multiple beams with desired polarization states through a highly anisotropic scattering medium

Abstract Evolution of polarization components with a high anisotropic scattering medium (HASM) has been an important and challenging topic due to its rich fundamental physics and potential applications. In this work, a vector transfer matrix (VTM) method is extended to describe the linear-circular polarization conversion of two orthogonal polarization components in an input vector beam with a HASM. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally for the first time that the manipulation of the linear-circular polarization conversion in two orthogonal polarization components and compact generation of multiple beams with desired polarization states through a HASM. Desired multiple beams with different polarization states (left- and right- circular polarization, horizontally and vertically linear polarization) are constructed and focused at various positions on different (or same) planes after passing through a HASM. The corresponding focusing positions, foci, and polarization states can be adjusted arbitrarily with the four sub-matrices of the VTM independently imposed into the input optical field using a phase conjugation technique.