title: Twisting light with micro-spheres produced by ultrashort light pulses.
abstract: We propose a radial polarizer based on light refraction on a transparent isotropic sphere. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the circularly polarized light impinging on the sphere produces double charged optical vortex. The method is applied to generate optical vortices on a small scale using hollow micro-spheres produced by femtosecond laser in fused silica.
authors: Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK. mxb@orc.soton.ac.uk
authors: Martynas
authors: M
authors: Beresna
authors: Mindaugas
authors: M
authors: Gecevičius
authors: Nadezhda M
authors: NM
authors: Bulgakova
authors: Peter G
authors: PG
authors: Kazansky
mesh_terms: D007834:Lasers; D008027:Light; D008863:Microspheres; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012822:Silicon Dioxide
chemical_list: D012822:Silicon Dioxide