Spatial-Variant Geometric Phase of Hybrid-Polarized Vector Optical Fields

We investigate a novel spatial geometric phase of hybrid-polarized vector fields consisting of linear, elliptical and circular polarizations by Young's two-slit interferometer instead of the widely used Mach–Zehnder interferometer. This spatial geometric phase can be manipulated by engineering the spatial configuration of hybrid polarizations, and is directly related to the topological charge, the local states of polarization and the rotational symmetry of hybrid-polarized vector optical fields. The unique feature of geometric phase has implications in quantum information science as well as other physical systems such as electron vortex beams.