Seeing full vectorial structures of light fields with a single-shot holographic multiplexed detector

The vectorial structure of light—amplitude, phase, and polarization—encodes essential information for applications ranging from super-resolution microscopy to high-capacity communications and quantum information processing. However, existing characterization methods either rely on multiple sequential measurements or require bulky polarization-splitting optics in the signal path. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a single-shot holographic multiplexed detector for coherent vectorial light fields that retrieves the full vectorial information from a single intensity recording. Two polarization-designed reference beams with distinct off-axis carriers interfere with the unknown vectorial light field, encoding both polarization channels into one off-axis hologram. Digital holographic reconstruction combined with a self-calibrated global phase retrieval recovers the complex wavefronts in the two channels without any additional measurements. We validate our approach by characterizing the polarization structures and concurrence of various vectorial structured light beams on a higher-order Poincaré sphere (l = 2). This compact, efficient detector may open new routes for real-time vectorial metrology in light–matter interaction, chiral sensing, vectorial adaptive optics, and dynamic structured light applications.