Transverse spin angular momentum of tightly focused full Poincaré beams.

Abstract

We show theoretically that by tightly focusing a full Poincaré beam one can create states of light whose average spin angular momentum (SAM) is purely transverse. Moreover, the transverse SAM is significantly increased if a narrow annular aperture is inserted into the Poincaré beam. In this case the state with transverse SAM can exist over an extremely long distance along the optical axis. To avoid diffraction on the aperture and increase the light conversion efficiency we employ the phenomenon of conical diffraction in biaxial crystals to convert a Gaussian beam into a ring-shaped beam, with a high ratio of the ring radius to its width.