Manipulating optical vortices using integrated photonics

Optical vortices (OVs) refer to a class of cylindrical optical modes with azimuthally varying phase terms arising either from polarization rotation or from the angular projection of the wave vector that at the quantum level corresponds to photon spin or orbital angular momenta. OVs have attracted the attention of researchers in many areas of optics and photonics, as their potential applications range from optical communications, optical manipulation, imaging, sensing, to quantum information. In recent years, integrated photonics has becomes an effective method of manipulating OVs. In this paper, the theoretical framework and experimental progress of integrated photonics for the manipulation of OVs were reviewed.