Toward a Corrected Knife-Edge-Based Reconstruction of Tightly Focused Higher Order Beams

The knife-edge method is an established technique for profiling of even tightly focused light beams. However, the straightforward implementation of this method fails if the materials and geometry of the knife-edges are not chosen carefully or, in particular, if knife-edges are used that are made of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in physics 2020-12, Vol.8
Main Authors: Orlov, Sergej, Huber, Christian, Marchenko, Pavel, Banzer, Peter, Leuchs, Gerd
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
nano-optics
optics
structured light
tomographic reconstruction
vector beam
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Summary:The knife-edge method is an established technique for profiling of even tightly focused light beams. However, the straightforward implementation of this method fails if the materials and geometry of the knife-edges are not chosen carefully or, in particular, if knife-edges are used that are made of pure materials. Artifacts are introduced in these cases in the shape and position of the reconstructed beam profile due to the interaction of the light beam under study with the knife. Hence, corrections to the standard knife-edge evaluation method are required. Here we investigate the knife-edge method for highly focused radially and azimuthally polarized beams and their linearly polarized constituents. We introduce relative shifts for those constituents and report on the consistency with the case of a linearly polarized fundamental Gaussian beam. An adapted knife-edge reconstruction technique is presented and proof-of-concept tests are shown, demonstrating the reconstruction of beam profiles.
ISSN:2296-424X
2296-424X
DOI:10.3389/fphy.2020.527734