title: Simple interferometric technique for generation of a radially polarized light beam.
abstract: We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of an interferometric technique for converting a linearly polarized Gaussian beam into a radially polarized doughnut beam. The experimental setup accomplishes the coherent summation of two orthogonally polarized TEM01 and TEM10 beams that are obtained from the transformation of a TEM00 beam by use of a simple binary diffractive optical element. We have shown that the degree of radial polarization is maximum at a given distance from the interferometer output port that depends on the diameter of the incident beam at the interferometer input port.
authors.affiliation: Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche Ions Lasers, Equipe Lasers, Instrumentation Optique et Applications, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Université de Caen, F-14050 Caen, France. nicolas.passilly@ensicaen.fr
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Passilly
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Saint Denis
authors.forename: Kamel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aït-Ameur
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Treussart
authors.forename: Rolland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hierle
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Roch