Open AccessSub-wavelength sized transversely polarized optical needle with exceptionally suppressed side-lobes
Author(s) -
Zhongsheng Man,
Changjun Min,
Luping Du,
Yuquan Zhang,
Siwei Zhu,
Xiaocong Yuan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.24.000874
Subject(s) - optics , polarization (electrochemistry) , transverse plane , side lobe , optical axis , wavelength , materials science , light beam , circular polarization , beam (structure) , physics , telecommunications , microstrip , chemistry , structural engineering , computer science , antenna (radio) , engineering , lens (geology)
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.