title: Stress birefringent, space-variant wave plates for vortex illumination.
abstract: We describe the use of stress birefringence in the creation of vortex illumination. A trifold symmetric stress pattern will provide an annular region that exhibits polarization vortices when illuminated with linearly polarized light and scalar vortices when illuminated with circularly polarized light. A finite element plane-stress model is used to analyze the space-variant anisotropy.
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, NY 14627, USA. alexis@optics.rochester.edu
authors.forename: Alexis K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Spilman
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Brown