No Arabic abstract
We discuss the properties of pure multipole beams with well-defined handedness or helicity, with the beam field a simultaneous eigenvector of the squared total angular momentum and its projection along the propagation axis. Under the condition of hemispherical illumination, we show that the only possible propagating multipole beams are `sectoral multipoles. The sectoral dipole beam is shown to be equivalent to the non-singular time-reversed field of an electric and a magnetic point dipole Huygens source located at the beam focus. Higher order multipolar beams are vortex beams vanishing on the propagation axis. The simple analytical expressions of the electric field of sectoral multipole beams, exact solutions of Maxwells equations, and the peculiar behaviour of the Poynting vector and spin and orbital angular momenta in the focal volume could help to understand and model light-matter interactions under strongly focused beams.
The control of structured waves has recently opened innovative scenarios in the perspective of radiation propagation and light-matter interaction. In particular, the transmission of customized electromagnetic fields is investigated for telecommunications, with the aim of exploring new modulation formats besides the traditional, almost saturated, division multiplexing techniques. Beams carrying twisted wavefronts have long been recognized as the promising candidates, however their phase singularities and efficient multiplexing still raise open issues. In a more general insight into structured-phase beams, we introduce and develop here a new and unique paradigm based on the transmission of beams with harmonic phases having a multipole structure. The outlined framework encompasses multiplexing, transmission, and demultiplexing as a whole for the first time, describing wavefields evolution in terms of conformal mappings, and solving straightforwardly the critical issues of previous solutions. Because of its potentialities, versatility, and ease of implementation, we expect this completely new paradigm to find widespread applications for space division multiplexing especially in free space, from the optical to the microwave and radio regimes.
Graphene plasmons are of remarkable features that make graphene plasmon elements promising for applications to integrated photonic devices. The fabrication of graphene plasmon components and control over plasmon propagating are of fundamental important. Through near-field plasmon imaging, we demonstrate controllable modifying of the reflection of graphene plasmon at boundaries etched by ion beams. Moreover, by varying ion dose at a proper value, nature like reflection boundary can be obtained. We also investigate the influence of ion beam incident angle on plasmon reflection. To illustrate the application of ion beam etching, a simple graphene wedge-shape plasmon structure is fabricated and performs excellently, proving this technology as a simple and efficient tool for controlling graphene plasmons.
Synchronising ultra-short (~fs) and focussed laser pulses is a particularly difficult task, as this timescale lies orders of magnitude below the typical range of fast electronic devices. Here we present an optical technique that allows for femtosecond-scale synchronisation of the focal planes of two focussed laser pulses. This technique is virtually applicable to any focussing geometry and relative intensity of the two lasers. Experimental implementation of this technique provides excellent quantitative agreement with theoretical expectations. The proposed technique will prove highly beneficial for the next generation of multiple, petawatt class laser systems.
Vortex beams with orbital angular momentum has been attracting tremendous attention due to their considerable applications ranging from optical tweezers to quantum information processing. Metalens, an ultra-compact and multifunctional device, provide a desired platform for designing vortex beams. A spin-dependent metalens can boost the freedom to further satisfy practical applications. By combining geometric phase and propagation phase, we propose and demonstrate an approach to design a spin-dependent metalens generating dual-focused vortex beams along longitudinal or transverse direction, i.e., metalenses with predesigned spin-dependent phase profiles. Under the illumination of an elliptical polarization incident beam, two spin-dependent focused vortex beams can be observed, and the relative focal intensity of them can be easily adjusted by modulating the ellipticity of the incident beam. Moreover, we also demonstrated that the separate distance between these dual-focused beams and their topological charges could be simultaneously tailored at will, which may have a profound impact on optical trapping and manipulation in photonics.
We investigate the interaction of highly focused linearly polarized optical beams with a metal knife-edge both theoretically and experimentally. A high numerical aperture objective focusses beams of various wavelengths onto samples of different sub-wavelength thicknesses made of several opaque and pure materials. The standard evaluation of the experimental data shows material and sample dependent spatial shifts of the reconstructed intensity distribution, where the orientation of the electric field with respect to the edge plays an important role. A deeper understanding of the interaction between the knife-edge and the incoming highly focused beam is gained in our theoretical model by considering eigenmodes of the metal-insulator-metal structure. We achieve good qualitative agreement of our numerical simulations with the experimental findings.