Production of radially and azimuthally polarized polychromatic beams.
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.
Shoham
A
A
Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Vander
R
R
Lipson
S G
SG