Single-phase modulated optical skyrmions for information security applications

Optical skyrmions have recently gained significant importance in the optical field due to their unique topological properties, which exhibit a topologically protected structure. This offered exciting possibilities for advanced photonics applications, including information storage and optical communication. We herein demonstrate the application of optical skyrmions in information science, specifically in image encoding, decoding, and encryption, utilizing an optical skyrmion generation system. Additionally, this robust technique, with a compact experimental configuration, was utilized to generate versatile optical skyrmions by employing a single spatial light modulator through polarization-selective modulation of optical fields with a non-zero radial index. Experimental configurations were demonstrated to produce optical skyrmions in fundamental laser beams with high radial mode conversion effectiveness. Experimental and simulation results were presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed system.