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Sub-wavelength sized transversely polarized optical needle with exceptionally suppressed side-lobes

Opt Express. 2016 Jan 25;24(2):874-82. doi: 10.1364/OE.24.000874.

Abstract

It is well known that radially polarized beam could produce an ultra-long longitudinally polarized focus, referred to as "optical needle". In this work, we reveal that the counterpart transversely polarized optical needle (~5.83λ) with exceptionally suppressed sidelobes (9.9% of the maximum of the principal lobe) can be generated by tightly focusing a hybridly polarized beam through a multibelt binary phase filter. A universal analytical model is built up for investigating the depth, uniformity and polarization properties of the needle. We find that there is a trade-off between needle length and intensity uniformity, and the main lobe keeps almost transverse polarization at each observation plane. Such a nondiffraction transversely polarized optical needle has potential applications in ultrahigh density magnetic storage as well as atomic trap and switches.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't