An intuitive approach to structuring the three electric field components of light

Maucher, F.; Skupin, S.; Gardiner, S.A.; Hughes, I.G.

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aaf711

An intuitive approach to structuring the three electric field components of light

Maucher, F.; Skupin, S.; Gardiner, S.A.; Hughes, I.G.

Authors

F. Maucher

S. Skupin

Professor Simon Gardiner s.a.gardiner@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Ifan Hughes i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This paper presents intuitive interpretations of tightly focused beams of light by drawing analogies with two-dimensional electrostatics, magnetostatics and fluid dynamics. We use a Helmholtz decomposition of the transverse electric field components in the transverse plane to introduce generalized radial and azimuthal polarization states. This reveals the interplay between transverse and longitudinal electric field components in a transparent fashion. Our approach yields a comprehensive understanding of tightly focused laser beams, which we illustrate through several insightful examples.

Citation

Maucher, F., Skupin, S., Gardiner, S., & Hughes, I. (2019). An intuitive approach to structuring the three electric field components of light. New Journal of Physics, 21, Article 013032. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aaf711

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 7, 2018
Online Publication Date	Jan 30, 2019
Publication Date	Jan 30, 2019
Deposit Date	Jan 30, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Feb 13, 2019
Journal	New Journal of Physics
Publisher	IOP Publishing
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	21
Article Number	013032
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aaf711

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