Multiple filamentation of circularly polarized beams

We derive a new system of equations that describes the propagation of circularly polarized laser beams in a Kerr medium. Analysis and simulations of this system show that multiple filamentation is suppressed for circularly polarized beams.     

Experimental verification of focus tailoring using circularly polarized vortex beams with annular pupil mask

The focusing properties of circularly polarized vortex beam are experimentally verified by examining two-photon fluorescent emission patterns inside an fluorescent microsphere. Very good agreements between the experimental and theoretical results have been obtained. Annular pupil masks are used to tailor the profile at the focus. When an circularly polarized beam with the appropriate handedness is used in combination with an annular pupil aperture, a strong longitudinal component is observed, which results in a raised center and a smaller focal spot. This interesting focusing property can be utilized in applications that require a distinct longitudinal component.     

Tight focusing of linearly and circularly polarized vortex beams; effect of third-order spherical aberration

Tight focusing of linearly and circularly polarized vortex beams is studied in the presence of third-order spherical aberration, using vectorial Debye–Wolf integral. Results for total intensity distribution are presented for both polarizations. In addition, results for x-, y-, and z-polarization components are presented for the circularly polarized beam. Generation of longitudinal optical vortex in the tightly focused left circularly polarized beam has also been demonstrated by plotting its phase distribution. Compensation for the effect of spherical aberration has been studied in the presence of defocusing. Effect of aberration on the dark core of a tightly focused azimuthally polarized beam is also investigated.     

Tight focusing of spirally polarized vortex beams

The tight focusing of spirally polarized focused vortex beams is analyzed numerically based on the vectorial Debye theory. The expressions for the electric field and the orbital angular momentum of focused beams are derived. It is shown that the intensity distribution in the focal plane is dependent on the specific spirally polarized state and the coefficient of the spiral polarization function. By presenting the phase contours of the component polarized in the radial direction, it is found that the radii of dislocation lines will increase with the increase of the power of the spirally polarization function. It is reveled that the same orbital angular momentum can be obtained for different spirally polarized state at certain distance along the propagation direction in the focal region. Besides, the orbital angular momentum distributions for different polarized states have fewer crossover points with each other for higher topological charge. The influence of the spirally polarized state on the orbital angular momentum in the focal plane is also studied.     

Tight focusing of axially symmetric polarized vortex beams

Tight focusing of axially symmetric polarized vortex beams is studied numerically based on vector diffraction theory. The mathematical expressions for the focused fields are derived. Simulation results show that the focused fields and phase distributions at focus are largely influenced by both the polarization order and topological charge of the incident beams. Moreover, focal spots with flat-topped or tightly-focused patterns can be flexibly achieved by carefully choosing the polar- ization order and the topological charge, which confirms the potential of such beams in wide applications, such as optical tweezers, laser printing, lithography, and material processing.     

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.     

STED microscopy based on axially symmetric polarized vortex beams

A stimulated emission depletion(STED) microscopy scheme using axially symmetric polarized vortex beams is proposed based on unique focusing properties of such kinds of beams. The concept of axially symmetric polarized vortex beams is first introduced, and the basic principle about the scheme is described. Simulation results for several typical beams are then shown, including radially polarized vortex beams, azimuthally polarized vortex beams, and high-order axially symmetric polarized vortex beams. The results indicate that sharper doughnut spots and thus higher resolutions can be achieved, showing more flexibility than previous schemes based on flexible modulation of both phase and polarization for incident beams.     

Focusing of linearly-, and circularly polarized Gaussian background vortex beams by a high numerical aperture system afflicted with third-order astigmatism

Effects of third-order astigmatism on the focused structure of linearly and circularly polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beams have been investigated by using vectorial Debye-Wolf integral. The results have been presented for total intensity distribution and squares of the polarization components at the focal plane of a high numerical aperture system, for two values of the topological charge. Astigmatism results in the stretching of the intensity pattern as well as of the squares of the polarization components. A split is observed in the intensity pattern of a focused beam having double topological charge, and also in the pattern of the longitudinal polarization component of circularly polarized beam even with unit topological charge.     

4Pi focusing of spatially modulated radially polarized vortex beams

We propose a method for generating focal beams with special intensity distributions using radially polarized vortex beams in a 4Pi configuration. A spherical dark-hollow beam and hollow beam array can be obtained by vortex beams with topological charge of m=1. A dark channel can be generated using vortex beams with topological charge of m=2. The length of the well-defined hollow beam array and the dark channel is about 30λ. These interesting beams are useful in optical trapping and manipulation.     

Characterization of tightly focused partially coherent radially polarized vortex beams

<正>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.     

Canonical momentum,angular momentum,and helicity of circularly polarized Airy beams

We report a study of the momentum, angular momentum, and helicity of circularly polarized Airy beams propagating in free space. By using the vector angular spectrum representation, the explicit analytical expressions for the electric and magnetic field components of circularly polarized Airy beams are derived in detail. To overcome the drawbacks of classical kinematics formulae when applied to structured light beams, a general canonical approach is introduced to describe the momentum, angular momentum and helicity of Airy beams. Numerical simulation results for the spatial distributions of the canonical momentum, spin and orbital angular momentum, as well as the helicity densities are presented and discussed. This study may provide useful insights into the dynamical properties of Airy beams that may be important in several applications, including the optical control, micromanipulation, and information processing.     

Effects of initial electronic state on vortex patterns in counter-rotating circularly polarized attosecond pulses

We theoretically investigate the effects of different electronic states as the initial state on the vortex patterns in photoelectron momentum distributions(PMDs)from numerical solutions of the two-dimensional(2D)time-dependent Schrodinger equation(TDSE)of He⁺with a pair of counter-rotating circularly polarized attosecond pulses.It is found that the number of spiral arms in vortex patterns is equal to the number of the absorbed photons when the initial state is the ground state.However,the number of spiral arms in vortex patterns is always two more than the number of the absorbed photons when the initial state is the excited state.This sensitivity is attributed to the initial electron density distribution.In addition,we have demonstrated the PMDs for different initial electronic states with the same wavelengths and analyzed their corresponding physical mechanisms.It is illustrated that the method presented can be employed to effectively control the distribution of the electron vortices.     

Effect of spherical aberration on tightly focused cylindrically polarized vortex beams

In this paper attention is given to the effects of primary spherical aberration on the cylindrical polarized vortex beam based on the vector diffraction theory. It is observed that by properly choosing the polarization angle and topological charge one can obtain many novel focal patterns suitable for optical tweezers, laser printing and material process. However, it is observed that the focusing objective with spherical aberration generates structural modification and positional shift of the generated focal structure.     

Tightly focusing of linearly polarized vortex beams through a dielectric interface

Based on vectorial Debye theory, the tightly focusing properties of linearly polarized vortex beams through a dielectric interface are studied. Then the intensity distribution in the focal region is investigated in detail by numerical calculations. The focal shifts induced by the mismatch of the refractive indices across the interface has been found. And the dependence of focal shifts and spot size of the focused field on the probe depth and numerical aperture of the objective are presented. Furthermore, the characteristic of intensity pattern of the cross section of the focused field is illustrated, finding that the intensity pattern rotates with the propagation of beams.     

Electro-optically generating and controlling right- and left-handed circularly polarized multiring modes of light beams

We propose a simple method for generating and controlling right- and left-handed circularly polarized (RHP and LHP) multiring modes of light beams by means of Pockels effect in a single strontium barium niobate (SBN) crystal. The numerical results show that an LHP Laguerre-Gaussian LG(0l) beam, propagating along the optical axis of the crystal, will partly turn into an RHP vortex light field of order l+2. Moreover, a pair of the LHP and RHP components of the output light field is LG-like modes sharing an identically radial index, which is electro-optically controllable. The power ratio between these two components depends on the applied electric field and the mode of input beam.     

Generation of multi-color stimulated raman emission from two-color linearly or circularly polarized pump beams

A laser beam at two different frequencies separated by 587 cm^–1 is focused into pressurized hydrogen (rotational transition energy, 587 cm^–1) to generate multi-color stimulated Raman emission. The polarization state and the pulse energy are measured for each generated emission line using linearly and circularly polarized pump beams. The effect of the polarization is discussed by using a parameter characterizing the polarizability of hydrogen and a conservation rule for the angular momentum in four-wave mixing. Many rotational lines are generated with linearly polarized pump beams through a four-wave mixing process. This is in striking contrast to the results obtained by using a single-color circularly polarized pump beam which generates only one rotational line through a conventional stimulated Raman process.     

Focus shaping of cylindrically polarized vortex beams by a high numerical-aperture lens

The focus-shaping technique of a cylindrically polarized vortex beam by a high numerical-aperture lens is reported. Such a polarized vortex beam is decomposed into radial and azimuthal polarization. It is shown that the total intensity distribution in the focal region is dependent not only on the numerical-aperture maximal angle and the polarization rotation angle but also on the topological charge. By choosing the proper combination of parameters, the adjustably confined flat-topped focus and focal hole can be obtained. The focus-shaping technique may find wide applications, such as optical tweezers, laser printing and material processing.     

J0相干角向偏振涡旋光束的深聚焦

通过矢量德拜理论,研究了J0相干角向偏振涡旋光束深聚焦的性质。推导了在焦点区域的光强分布、光谱相干度和偏振度的表达式。数值模拟结果表明,光强分布、相干度和偏振度不仅依赖于相干长度和数值孔径最大角,而且依赖于拓扑电荷数。这种光束在焦平面还可获得非常小的焦点和焦洞。     

Backscattering of circularly polarized pulses

Using numerical simulations of vector radiative transport, we examine time-resolved backscattering of circularly polarized plane waves normally incident upon a slab containing a random distribution of latex spheres in water. For large spheres the effect of polarization memory occurs a short time after first-order scattering and before depolarization. It is the result of successive near-forward-scattering events that maintain the incident wave's helicity. For moderately large scatterers it exhibits a simple dependence on the anisotropy factor. For larger spheres or those with higher refractive indices, it also depends on complicated angular and polarization characteristics of backscattering given by Mie theory.     

J0相干角向偏振涡旋光束的深聚焦

通过矢量德拜理论,研究了J0相干角向偏振涡旋光束深聚焦的性质。推导了在焦点区域的光强分布、光谱相干度和偏振度的表达式。数值模拟结果表明,光强分布、相干度和偏振度不仅依赖于相干长度和数值孔径最大角,而且依赖于拓扑电荷数。这种光束在焦平面还可获得非常小的焦点和焦洞。