Compact generation of light beams carrying robust higher-order Poincaré polarization states

We propose a protocol for compact and efficient synthesis of a random vectorial source with a higher-order Poincaré (HOP) polarization state encoded into the spatial coherence structure. The procedure is based on the complex-random-mode representation of the cross-spectral density matrix and employs a single phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) and a common path interferometric system for the mode construction. The SLM displays a set of elaborated multiplexed holograms, which both encode the HOP polarization state and determine the statistical properties of the source. We demonstrate that the beam from the synthesized source can be highly robust against obstructions in the propagation path in the sense that the encoded HOP polarization state is well reconstructed in the far field (focal plane) even when an obstacle is introduced to largely block the source. The results are useful for the transmission of polarization-encoded information in complex media.