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Fibonacci and fully degenerate conical diffraction cascades: Exploring the Poincaré sphere by path interference

Muhammad Waqar Iqbal1,*, Mayssoune Mina1, Sali Mohammadou2, Nicolas Marsal1, and Germano Montemezzani1

  • *Contact author: muhammad-waqar.iqbal@centralesupelec.fr
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APS Open Sci. 1, 000112 – Published 27 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xj56-x619

Abstract

Tailoring light beams in terms of intensity, phase, and polarization distribution has recently garnered significant attention. This work considers vector beams obtained by the natural conical diffraction phenomenon, occurring when a focused light beam travels along one of the optic axes of a biaxial crystal. If a cascade of several aligned biaxial crystals is used, in its sharpest plane this phenomenon usually gives rise to a concentric ring pattern with spatially varying linear polarization, thus covering the equator of the Poincaré sphere. Here, we propose smart arrangements of conical diffraction cascades based on Fibonacci and degenerate sequences leading to vectorial beams addressing multiple areas of the Poincaré sphere. The present approach is based on the concept of path interference and enables a clear spatial separation between regions exhibiting distinct polarization states (linear, elliptical, circular).

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APS Open Sci. 1, 000112– Published 27 August, 2026
Vol. 1
  • Received 18 May 2026
  • Accepted 4 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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