Tailored intensity landscapes by tight focusing of singular vector beams

Otte E, Tekce K, Denz C

Abstract

Vector beams are of major importance to tailor tightly focused fields by creatingan additional z-polarization component. Till now, mainly focusing properties of fundamentalvector beams have been investigated, whereas the knowledge of focused higher-order singularvector fields is still missing. We fill this gap by numerical analysis of these fields, applyingtheir attractive characteristics as including a spatially adjustable amount of radial and azimuthalcomponents.We demonstrate the realization of three-dimensional polarization structures whosetotal intensity resembles dark stars and bright flowers. Further, we tailor these focal intensitylandscapes by modulating the order of incident vector fields. This in turn allows shaping thefocus of a light field for specific applications as e.g. advanced microscopy.