Abstract
We extend the established transverse customization of light, in particular, amplitude, phase, and polarization modulation of the light field, and its analysis by the third, longitudinal spatial dimension, enabling the visualization of longitudinal structures in sub-wavelength (nm) range. To achieve this high-precision and three-dimensional beam shaping and detection, we propose an approach based on precise variation of indices in the superposition of higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian beams and cylindrical vector beams in a counter-propagation scheme. The superposition is analyzed experimentally by digital, holographic counter-propagation leading to stable, reversible and precise scanning of the light volume. Our findings show tailored amplitude, phase and polarization structures, adaptable in 3D space by mode indices, including sub-wavelength structural changes upon propagation, which will be of interest for advanced material machining and optical trapping.
Highlights
We extend the established transverse customization of light, in particular, amplitude, phase, and polarization modulation of the light field, and its analysis by the third, longitudinal spatial dimension, enabling the visualization of longitudinal structures in sub-wavelength range
In order to shape light in 3d space, the use of single beams is limited to certain special cases where either fine structural changes only occur within the tight focus of the respective light field or spatial structures in the longitudinal direction are shaped far bigger than the wavelength[10,16,18,32], as observed for, e.g., the optical conveyor beam based on Bessel mode modulation[25]
Due to the self-similarity, both beam classes do not change their transverse structure upon propagation, apart from scaling in aspect ratio due to divergence, which is beneficial for longitudinal extended light field generation
Summary
We extend the established transverse customization of light, in particular, amplitude, phase, and polarization modulation of the light field, and its analysis by the third, longitudinal spatial dimension, enabling the visualization of longitudinal structures in sub-wavelength (nm) range To achieve this high-precision and three-dimensional beam shaping and detection, we propose an approach based on precise variation of indices in the superposition of higher-order LaguerreGaussian beams and cylindrical vector beams in a counter-propagation scheme. Taking advantage of fundamental or lower-order Bessel or Laguerre-Gaussian beams, counter-propagating optical trapping landscapes have been created, orbiting trapped particles or n anorods[29,30,31] These light structures typically either lack transverse as well as longitudinal structural diversity, in particular, when considering the polarization of light as a degree of freedom, and/ or require complex realization procedures. Thereby, we control and sculpt the transverse as well as the longitudinal degrees of freedom of the realized volumetric light field
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