Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Exploiting the circular polarization of light to obtain a spiral energy flow at the subwavelength focus

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

Using Richards–Wolf formulas, we show analytically that when strongly focusing a circularly polarized axisymmetric non-vortex field (e.g., a Gaussian beam or zero-order Bessel–Gaussian beam), a spiral energy flow is produced around the sub-wavelength focal spot. This phenomenon can be explained by the conversion of spin angular momentum associated with the circular polarization state into the near-focus orbital angular momentum, with the on-axis angular momentum being strictly zero. It is also shown that a linearly polarized optical vortex with topological charge 2 produces an on-axis near-focus energy backflow whose amplitude (defined by the negative longitudinal component of the Poynting vector) is comparable with that of the incident beam.

© 2019 Optical Society of America

Full Article  |  PDF Article
More Like This
Inversion of the axial projection of the spin angular momentum in the region of the backward energy flow in sharp focus

Victor V. Kotlyar, Anton G. Nalimov, and Sergey S. Stafeev
Opt. Express 28(23) 33830-33840 (2020)

Reverse and toroidal flux of light fields with both phase and polarization higher-order singularities in the sharp focus area

Victor V. Kotlyar, Sergey S. Stafeev, and Alexey A. Kovalev
Opt. Express 27(12) 16689-16702 (2019)

Tight focusing cylindrical vector beams with fractional order

S. S. Stafeev, A. G. Nalimov, V. D. Zaitsev, and V. V. Kotlyar
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 38(4) 1090-1096 (2021)

Cited By

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Figures (5)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Figure files are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Equations (21)

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Equations are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved