title: Focusing of high numerical aperture cylindrical-vector beams.
abstract: Cylindrical-vector beams are of increasing recent interest for their role in novel laser resonators and their applications to electron acceleration and scanning microscopy. In this paper, we calculate cylindrical-vector fields, near the focal region of an aplanatic lens, and briefly discuss some applications. We show that, in the particular case of a tightly focused, radially polarized beam, the polarization shows large inhomogeneities in the focal region, while the azimuthally polarized beam is purely transverse even at very high numerical apertures.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Youngworth
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brown