Letter abstract
Nature Photonics 1, 228 - 231 (2007)
Published online: 2 April 2007 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2007.30
Subject Category: Fundamental optical physics
Local polarization of tightly focused unpolarized light
Klas Lindfors1, Arri Priimagi1, Tero Setälä1, Andriy Shevchenko1, Ari T. Friberg2 & Matti Kaivola1
Abstract
The polarization of light is important in a great variety of optical phenomena, ranging from transmission, reflection and scattering to polarimetric imaging of scenes and quantum-mechanical selection rules of atomic and molecular transitions. Among some less-well-known phenomena that illustrate the vectorial nature of light are the Pancharatnam1 (or geometric2) phase, singularities in the polarization pattern of clear sky3 and polarization of microwave background radiation4. Here, we examine the partial polarization of focused light. We experimentally demonstrate a rather surprising phenomenon, where the focusing of unpolarized light results in rings of full polarization in the focal plane of the focusing optics. The polarization rings are imaged with a resolution of <100 nm by probing the focal region using a gold nanoparticle.
- Helsinki University of Technology (TKK), Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics and Center for New Materials, PO Box 3500, FI-02015 TKK, Finland
- Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), School of Information and Communication Technology, Electrum 229, SE-164 40 Kista, Sweden
Correspondence to: Klas Lindfors1 e-mail: klas.lindfors@tkk.fi
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