Expanding THz Vortex Generation Functionality with Advanced Spiral Zone Plates Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube Films

Abstract

Optical elements based on nanomaterials are becoming major avenues to satisfy the technological requirements of compact, lightweight, and tunable elements of the emerging terahertz (THz) field. A new generation of diffractive components integrating specific geometry with additional features (flexibility, stretchability, rotation, and other approaches for tuning properties) extends the functionality of wavefront control. Here, an innovative approach is demonstrated to control the THz wavefront via a layered composition of spiral zone plates (SZPs) with tunable mutual orientation and scaling. As a proof of concept, the SZP is designed using Laguerre‐Gauss mode analysis with further fabrication and experimental characterization of the resultant vortex beams. For each single SZP, a flexible element is proposed based on a thin film of single‐walled carbon nanotubes deposited on a stretchable substrate. Thus, this diffraction element can be tuned not only by rotation (along the azimuthal direction), but also by its stretching (in the radial direction). The spatial tuning of the developed SZPs (spiral zone plates) opens up an efficient, convenient, and highly customizable approach for the manipulation of vortex beams.