Transversely oriented cylindrically polarized optical fields.

Abstract

Cylindrical vector (CV) beams have nonuniform polarization vector distribution with a singularity line directed along the optical axis. In this paper, we propose a method to synthesize transversely oriented cylindrically polarized optical fields in the focal region with a singularity line perpendicular to the optical axis. The scheme is based on the time-reversal method, the vectorial diffraction theory, and the 4Pi optical configuration. Both transversely oriented radially polarized and azimuthally polarized optical fields are demonstrated. The superposition of transverse cylindrically polarized optical fields leads to a peculiar distribution carrying controllable transverse spin angular momentum (SAM) and transverse orbital angular momentum (OAM) that may find applications in optical tweezing, light-matter interaction, and unidirectional beam propagation excitation.