Sector spiral plate based on the DHF effect in liquid crystal ferroelectrics

We report a detailed study of characteristics of vortex light fields formed using a sector spiral plate based on the DHF effect in liquid crystal ferroelectrics with a subwavelength helix pitch. In contrast to conventional nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulators, this crystal provides a switching frequency of up to 3 kHz. However, the process of crystal reorientation leads to a change in the polarization state of the modulated light. The issues of light field formation under these conditions are considered. It is shown that a change in the light polarization state does not significantly affect the formation of vortex fields. The experimentally measured values of the topological charge are in good agreement with the calculated ones.