Propagation of the Lissajous singularity dipole in free space

Abstract

The propagation properties of a pair of Lissajous singularities with opposite singularity indexes called the Lissajous singularity dipole (LSD) in free space are studied analytically and illustrated numerically. It is shown that the motion, creation, annihilation and change in the degree of polarization of the LSD, and change in the shape of Lissajous figures take place by suitably varying the waist width, off-axis distance or propagation distance. In particular, the creation and shift to infinity of a single Lissajous singularity may appear. A comparison with the free-space propagation of an optical vortex dipole and a C-dipole is also made.