title: Generation and tight focusing of hybridly polarized vector beams.
abstract: We propose and experimentally demonstrate the generation of hybridly polarized beams by transmitting radially polarized light through a wave plate. We show that such beams span a closed circle on the surface of the Poincaré sphere whose center coincides with the center of the sphere. In addition we numerically investigate the field and energy density distribution across the focal plane of a high NA lens illuminated by such a hybrid beam. The results show an interesting polarization distribution with 3D orientation and space variant ellipticity. This kind of polarization distributions may be used for a variety of applications, e.g. particle orientation analysis, microscopy and in atomic systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, The Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. gilad.lerman@mail.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Gilad M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lerman
authors.forename: Liron
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: Uriel
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Levy
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008027:Light; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation