Abstract

We analyze various techniques for producing a thin needle of light in which the electric field is longitudinally polarized. We consider the use of variously polarized laser beams tightly focused by a spherical lens or by large-aperture refractive or diffractive axicons. The simulations were performed using integral propagators and the numerical finite-element method. We show that a diffractive axicon is the best component for producing an elongated longitudinally polarized optical needle.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

Demonstration of longitudinally polarized optical needles

Léo Turquet, Xiaorun Zang, Joona-Pekko Kakko, Harri Lipsanen, Godofredo Bautista, and Martti Kauranen
Opt. Express 26(21) 27572-27584 (2018)

Spherical and sub-wavelength longitudinal magnetization generated by 4π tightly focusing radially polarized vortex beams

Zhongquan Nie, Weiqiang Ding, Dongyu Li, Xueru Zhang, Yuxiao Wang, and Yinglin Song
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Analysis on the longitudinal field strength formed by tightly-focused radially-polarized femtosecond petawatt laser pulse

Tae Moon Jeong, Sergei Bulanov, Stefan Weber, and Georg Korn
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Controlling the contribution of the electric field components to the focus of a high-aperture lens using binary phase structures

Svetlana N. Khonina and Sergey G. Volotovsky
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Ultralong pure longitudinal magnetization needle induced by annular vortex binary optics

Sicong Wang, Xiangping Li, Jianying Zhou, and Min Gu
Opt. Lett. 39(17) 5022-5025 (2014)