Thermal atoms facilitate intensity clipping between vectorial dual-beam generated by a single metasurface chip

Abstract: Manipulating vector beams is pivotal in fields such as particle manipulation, image processing, and quantum communication. Flexibly adjusting the intensity distribution of these beams is crucial for effectively realizing these applications. This study introduces a vectorial dual-beam system utilizing thermal atoms as the medium for modulating the intensity profile of vector beams. A single metasurface is employed to generate both the control and signal vector beams, each with unique vectorial characteristics. The shaping of the signal beam profile is facilitated by the interaction with thermal atoms, which can be controlled by adjusting the control vector beam. This spatially selective absorption is a result of the thermal atoms' response to the varying polarizations within the vector beams. In this experiment, two distinct metasurface chips are fabricated to generate vector beams with doughnut-shaped and Gaussian-shaped intensity profiles. By adjusting the incident power and polarization state of the control light, the doughnut-shaped signal beams can be converted into a rotational dual-lobed pattern or the dimensions of the Gaussian-distributed signal beams can be modified. This study introduces a novel vector beam shaping technique by integrating metasurfaces with thermal atoms, offering significant promise for future applications requiring miniaturization, dynamic operation, and versatile control capabilities.