Optical needles with arbitrary homogeneous three-dimensional polarization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for generating highly homogeneous, arbitrarily polarized optical needles with sub-wavelength transverse sizes using focused vector beams with radial and azimuthal components.

Contribution

It presents the first demonstration of arbitrarily polarized optical needles with transverse sizes below 0.5λ and polarization homogeneity over 0.97.

Findings

Achieved optical needles with transverse size < 0.5λ

Polarization homogeneity exceeds 0.97

First demonstration of arbitrary 3D polarization in optical needles

Abstract

We propose a new method to generate optical needles by focusing vector beams comprised of radially polarized component and azimuthally polarized vortex components. The radial part can generate longitudinal polarization, while the azimuthal parts can generate left- and right-handed polarization. Hence, an arbitrary 3D polarization can be obtained. To our knoeledge, it may be the first time that arbitrarily polarized optical needles whose transverse sizes are under 0.5$\lambda$ have been achieved. And their polarized homogeneity is beyond 0.97.