Abstract

The importance of the far-field diffraction pattern (FFDP) for retroreflectors lies in its ability to describe the performance of retroreflectors commonly used for positioning or measurement in optical systems. We proposed a new, to the best of our knowledge, retroreflector structure integrating a metal-coated corner cube retroreflector (CCR) and a spiral phase plate (SPP) to produce an annular FFDP. We analyzed the propagation characteristics of the light beam traveling through this combination and described the mechanism underlying the generation of an annular FFDP. We developed a simulation program to calculate the far-field pattern for various critical parameters of the spiral phase CCR and experimentally demonstrated its annular FFDP.

© 2023 Optica Publishing Group

Far-field diffraction pattern of a nonideal retroreflector for polarized light with an oblique incidence

Zhou Hui, Li Song, Zhang Wenhao, and Chen Yuwei
Appl. Opt. 59(8) 2621-2631 (2020)

Polarization and far-field diffraction patterns of total internal reflection corner cubes

Thomas W. Murphy and Scott D. Goodrow
Appl. Opt. 52(2) 117-126 (2013)

Ground-based corner cube retroreflector optimal design for the geolocation validation of satellite photon counting lidar

Qianyin Zhang, Hui Zhou, Song Li, and Yue Ma
Appl. Opt. 60(34) 10579-10586 (2021)

Adjustment on the received optical power of a ground-based optical instrument by a corner cube retroreflector with a curved front-face

Zhou Hui, Li Song, and Yuwei Chen
Appl. Opt. 60(2) 405-412 (2021)

Fully continuous spiral phase plate for ultraintense optical vortices

Yuanhang Zhang, Shenglin Wen, Shengfei Wang, Jian Zhang, Caixue Tang, Haoyi Zuo, Fuhua Gao, Fei Fan, Qinghua Zhang, and Qiao Xu
Opt. Lett. 48(10) 2760-2763 (2023)