title: Production of radially and azimuthally polarized polychromatic beams.
abstract: We describe a system that efficiently provides radially or azimuthally polarized radiation from a randomly polarized source. It is constructed from two conical reflectors and a cylindrical sheet of polarizing film. Envisaged applications include a microscope illuminator for high-resolution surface plasmon resonance microscopy, illumination for high-resolution microlithography, and efficient coupling of a laser source to hollow optical fibers. The angular coherence function of light polarized by the device was measured to evaluate its usefulness for these applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shoham
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vander
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lipson