Institution: | aDepartment of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111 Budapest, Budafoki u. 8., Hungary bDepartment of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel |
Abstract: | The properties of tight dark focal spot created using a simple circular π phase plate are presented. For focusing elements with low numerical aperture, the focal plane intensity has r4 dependence, while for focusing elements with high numerical aperture, vectorial diffraction effects become important, and the focal plane intensity surprisingly approaches r2 dependence, indicating a much tighter dark spot. |