Tight Focusing Properties of Radially Polarized Gaussian Beams with Pair of Vortices

The tight focusing properties of a radially polarized Gaussian beam with a nested pair of vortices having a radial wave front distribution are investigated theoretically by the vector diffraction theory. The results show that the optical intensity in the focal region can be altered considerably by changing the location of the vortices nested in a radially polarized Gaussian beam. It is noted that focal evolution from one annular focal pattern to a highly confined focal spot in the transverse direction is observed corresponding to the change in the location of the optical vortices in the input plane. It is also observed that the generated focal hole or spot lead to a focal shift along the optical axis remarkably under proper radial phase modulation. Hence the proposed system may be applied to construct tunable optical traps for both high and low refractive index particles.

Electron acceleration by tightly focused radially polarized few-cycle laser pulses

Within the framework of plane-wave angular spectrum analysis of the electromagnetic field structure, a solution valid for tightly focused radially polarized few-cycle laser pulses propagating in vacuum is presented. The resulting field distribution is significantly different from that based on the paraxial approximation for pulses with either small or large beam diameters. We compare the electron accelerations obtained with the two solutions and find that the energy gain obtained with our new solution is usually much larger than that with the paraxial approximation solution.

Creation of Multiple Subwavelength Focal Spot Segments Using Phase Modulated Radially Polarized Multi Gaussian Beam

Based on the vector diffraction theory, the effect of complex phase filters on intensity distribution of a radially polarized multi Gaussian beam in the focal region of high NA lens is theoretically investigated. It is observed that a properly designed multi belt complex phase filter can generate subwavelength novel focal patterns including splitting of focal spots and generation of multiple focal spot segments such as eight, six and four focal spots along the optical axis are obtained. We expect that such an investigation is useful for optical manipulation and material processing, multiple high refractive index particle trapping technologies.

Tight Focusing Properties of Phase Modulated Radially Polarized Laguerre Bessel Gaussian Beam

We propose a new approach for generating a multiple focal spot segment of subwavelength size, by tight focusing of a phase modulated radially polarized Laguerre Bessel Gaussian beam. The focusing properties are investigated theoretically by .vector diffraction theory. We observe that the focal segment with multiple focal structures is separated with different axial distances and a super long dark channel can be generated by properly tuning the phase of the incident radially polarized Laguerre Bessel Gaussian beam. We presume that such multiple focal patterns and high intense beam may find applications in atom optics, optical manipulations and multiple optical trapping.

Experimental Measurement of the Generalized Stokes Parameters of a Radially Polarized Random Electromagnetic Beam

Utilizing the Young’s double slits and Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we proposed an experimental method to measure the generalized Stokes parameters of a radially polarized random electromagnetic beam. After the partially coherent beam propagating through the Young’s double slits, the interference fringe is obtained by the help of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer consisting of apertures, quarter-wave plates and polarizers. The electric cross-spectral density matrix is detected by the coherence degree of interference fringe and the density of each single slit. The generalized Stokes parameters can be obtained from the electric cross-spectral density matrix. This experiment measures the generalized Stokes parameters of the random electromagnetic beam successfully. The results show that the spectral degree of coherence for copolarized cases (xx and yy) is similar with that for cross-polaried cases (xy and yx) for the radially polarized random electromagnetic beam. This method will help us determine the change of the polarization and coherence of the light in propagation by detecting the change of the generalized Stokes parameters.

Experimental verification on tightly focused radially polarized vortex beams

The theoretical and experimental results of tightly focused radially polarized vortex beams are demonstrated. An auto-focus technology is introduced into the measurement system in order to enhance the measurement precision, and the radially polarized vortex beams are generated by a liquid-crystal polarization converter and a vortex phase plate. The focused fields of radially polarized vortex beams with different topological charges at numerical apertures （NAs） of 0.65 and 0.85 are measured respectively, and the results indicate that the total intensity distribution at focus is dependent not only on the NA of the focusing objective lens and polarization pattern of the beam but also on the topological charge l of the beam. Some unique focusing properties of radially polarized vortex beams with fractional topological charges are presented based on numerical calculations. The experimental verification paves the way for some practical applications of radially polarized vortex beams, such as in optical trapping, near-field microscopy, and material processing.

Nonparaxial propagation of radially polarized chirped Airy beams in uniaxial crystal orthogonal to the optical axis

The nonparaxial propagation of radially polarized chirped Airy beams(RPCAiBs) in uniaxial crystal orthogonal to the optical axis is analytically studied. The effects of the first and the second order chirp factors, and the ratio of the extraordinary refractive index to the ordinary refractive index on the nonparaxial evolution of RPCAi Bs in different observation planes are investigated in detail. The results show that when one parameter changes, different components behave differently, and even the same component has various behavior in different directions. The initial slope of RPCAi Bs in the x-direction varies more with the first order chirp factor than that in the y-direction. Meanwhile, with the second order chirp factor becoming larger, the depth of the focus of the y-component in the x-direction decreases while that in the y-direction has no difference. In addition, the different ratios of the extraordinary refractive index to the ordinary refractive index change the difference of the depth of the focus between the x-and the y-components.

Characterization of tightly focused partially coherent radially polarized vortex beams

Tight focusing properties of partially coherent radially polarized vortex beams are studied based on vectorial Debye theory.We focus on the focal properties including the intensity and the partially coherent and polarized properties of such partially coherent vortex beams through a high numerical aperture objective. It is found that the source coherence length and the maximal numerical aperture angle have direct influence on the focal intensity,as well as coherence and polarization properties.This research is important in optical micromanipulation and beam shaping.

Super-resolution longitudinally polarized light needle achieved by tightly focusing radially polarized beams

Based on the vector diffraction theory, a super-resolution longitudinally polarized optical needle with ultra-long depth of focus(DOF) is generated by tightly focusing a radially polarized beam that is modulated by a self-designed ternary hybrid(phase/amplitude) filter(THF). Both the phase and the amplitude patterns of THF are judiciously optimized by the versatile particle swarm optimization(PSO) searching algorithm. For the focusing configuration with a combination of a high numerical aperture(NA) and the optimized sine-shaped THFs, an optical needle with the full width at half maximum(FWHM) of 0.414λ and the DOF of 7.58λ is accessed, which corresponds to an aspect ratio of 18.3. The demonstrated longitudinally polarized super-resolution light needle with high aspect ratio opens up broad applications in high-density optical data storage, nano-photolithography, super-resolution imaging and high-efficiency particle trapping.

Creation of radially polarized optical fields with multiple controllable parameters using a vectorial optical field generator

A vectorial optical field generator(VOF-Gen) based on two reflective phase-only liquid crystal spatial light modulators enables the creation of an arbitrary optical complex field. In this work, the capabilities of the VOF-Gen in terms of manipulating the spatial distributions of phase, amplitude, and polarization are experimentally demonstrated by generating a radially polarized optical field consisted of five annular rings, the focusing properties of which are also numerically studied with vectorial diffraction theory. By carefully adjusting the relative amplitude and phase between the adjacent rings, an optical needle field with purely longitudinal polarization can be produced in the focal region of a high numerical aperture lens. The versatile method presented in this work can be easily extended to the generation of a vectorial optical field with any desired complex distributions.

Generation of ultrafast radially polarized pulses through chirp-assisted femtosecond optical parametric amplification

Radially polarized beams characterized by an axially symmetric polarization distribution can be sharply focused to produce strong longitudinal fields in the vicinity.Future applications of these beams will be facilitated by the availability of higher powers and shorter durations.Currently,the ultrafast radially polarized pulse is typically generated via wavefront reconstruction from conventional linearly polarized states.Achievable pulse duration and intensity limits are strictly dependent on extra-cavity optics.Herein,a chirp-assisted near-degenerate type-II parametric process is presented as a pulse-energy-scalable method of accessing ultrafast radially polarized pulses.In a proof-of-principle experiment,the broadband gain balance between the orthogonally polarized signal components was realized via controlling the chirp of the pump pulse.Through an analogous pulseduration transfer effect,the radially polarized signal inherited the temporal and spectral characteristics of the pump pulse and maintained the radial polarization state of each frequency component of the signal.With a shorter pump pulse,the generation of few-cycle radially polarized pulses should be achievable,which may facilitate a wide range of ultrafast applications such as vacuum electron acceleration and high-harmonic generation.

Refractive index measurement of dielectric samples using highly focused radially polarized light(Invited Paper)

In this Letter, a refractive index measurement of a dielectric sample using highly focused radially polarized light is reported. Through imaging analysis of the optical field at the pupil plane of a high numerical aperture （NA） objective lens reflected by the sample under study, the Brewster angle is found. Employing a high NA objective lens allows the measurement of multiple angles of incidence from 0° to 64° in a single shot. The refractive index of the sample is estimated using the measured Brewster angle. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical images computed with the Fresnel theory, and a good agreement is obtained.

Three-dimensional multiple optical cages formed by focusing double-ring shaped radially and azimuthally polarized beams

We propose and simulate a method for generating a three-dimensional （3D） optical cage in the vicinity of focus by focusing a double-ring shaped radially and azimuthally polarized beam. Our study shows that the combination of an inner ring with an azimuthally polarized field and an outer ring with a radially polarized field and a phase factor can produce an optical cage with a dark region enclosed by higher intensity. The shape of the cage can be tailored by appropriately adjusting the parameters of double-mode beams. Furthermore, multiple 3D optical cages can be realized by applying the shift theorem of the Fourier transform and macro-pixel sampling algorithm to a double-ring shaped radially and azimuthally polarized beam.

Generation of tunable superchiral spot in metal-insulator-metal waveguide

The chiral feature of an optical field can be evaluated by the parameter of g-factor enhancement,which is helpful to enhance chiroptic signals from a chiral dipole.In this work,the superchiral spot has been theoretically proposed in metal-insulator-metal waveguides.The g-factor enhancement of the superchiral spot can be enhanced by 67-fold more than that of circularly polarized light,and the spot is confined in the deep wavelength scale along each spatial dimension.Moreover,the position of the superchiral spot can be tuned by manipulating the incident field.The tunable superchiral spot may find applications in chiral imaging and sensing.

Broadband transverse displacement sensing of silicon hollow nanodisk under focused radial polarization illumination in the near-infrared region

Broadband transverse displacement sensing by exploiting the interaction of a focused radially polarized beam with a silicon hollow nanodisk is proposed.The multipolar decomposition analysis indicates that the interference between a longitudinal total electric dipole(TED)moment and a lateral magnetic dipole(MD)moment is dominant in the far-field transverse scattering in the near-infrared region.Within a broadband wavelength range with the width of 155 nm,the longitudinal TED is almost in phase with the lateral MD,and then broadband position sensing based on the sensitivity of scattering directivity to transverse displacement can be achieved.