Control of the multifocal properties of composite vector beams in tightly focusing systems.

Abstract

The numbers of the focal spots and the dominant field (i.e., whether the axial field or the transverse fields play dominant role in the focusing field) have significant effects on various applications. In this paper, we have derived the universal imaging model of the composite vector beam (CVB) composed of two orthogonally linearly polarized beams with inhomogeneous polarization modulation, which is also suitable for various polarized beams, such as linearly, circularly, radially, azimuthally, and vortex polarized beams. Moreover, the sin&cos amplitude modulation with arbitrary orders and the pupil filters with cylindrical symmetry are also involved in this imaging model. On the basis of this imaging model, the regulars to control the focal numbers and the dominant field are drawn. For the various applications, some important conclusions and constructive advices are given.