S. Paul, V.S. Lyubopytov, M.F. Schumann, J. Cesar, A. Chipouline, M. Wegener, and F. Küppers

Opt. Lett. 41, 3249-3252 (2016)

We demonstrate an on-chip device capable of wavelength-selective generation of vortex beams, which is realized by a spiral phase plate integrated onto a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) tunable filter. This vortex MEMS filter, being capable of functioning simultaneously in both wavelength and orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) domains at the 1550 nm wavelength regime, is considered as a compact, robust, and cost-effective solution for simultaneous OAM- and wavelength-division multiplexed optical communications. The experimental OAM spectra for azimuthal orders 1, 2, and 3 show an OAM state purity >92% across a wavelength range of more than 30 nm.