Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the field distribution in the focal volume of an aberrated radially polarized beam. Using two different forms of the vectorial diffraction theory, we show that the presence of defocus in the beam displaces both the axially and the radially polarized fields parallel to the optical axis of the focusing lens, while the presence of spherical aberration primarily shifts the longitudinally polarized field only. This facilitates axial separation of the two orthogonally polarized field components, resulting in a significant boost to the ratio of the peak longitudinally polarized field to the peak laterally polarized field in the focal plane. We further show that with an appropriate combination of oppositely signed defocus and spherical aberration, the energy density in the focal volume due to the longitudinally polarized field can be caused to peak at the focal plane. The results obtained are expected to be beneficial to the applications requiring a stronger longitudinally polarized focal field relative to the laterally polarized focal field component.

©2012 Optical Society of America

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