Formation of high-order cylindrical vector beams with sector sandwich structures

Complex polarization-phase transformations are considered, which are implemented using easy-to-manufacture optical elements. The manufacturing technology of such elements is based on the axially symmetric discretization of the required polarization and phase distributions. This representation leads to optical elements in the form of sector sandwich structures consisting of polarizing and phase plates stacked together. The paper numerically and experimentally investigates the main types of such sector sandwich structures for the formation of second-order cylindrical polarizations.