Bhebhe Nkosi, Rosales-Guzman Carmelo, Forbes Andrew
Appl Opt. 2018 Jul 1;57(19):5451-5458. doi: 10.1364/AO.57.005451.
Laser beams with a near uniform intensity profile, such as flat-top and super-Gaussian beams, have found many applications, particularly in laser materials processing. Unfortunately such beams are not eigenmodes of free-space and, thus, alter their intensity profile during propagation. This may be overcome by creating vector flat-top beams. Here, we exploit the polarization dependent efficiency of spatial light modulators to create a vector flat-top beam that maintains its intensity profile and vector nature during propagation. We apply a holistic classical and quantum toolkit to analyze the dynamics of the vector state during propagation and demonstrate the versatility of these beams in an optical trapping and tweezing application. Our simple generation approach and holistic analysis toolbox will appeal to an audience who wish to employ these beams in a variety of applications.
具有近似均匀强度分布的激光束，如平顶光束和超高斯光束，已得到广泛应用，尤其是在激光材料加工领域。遗憾的是，此类光束并非自由空间的本征模式，因此在传播过程中其强度分布会发生改变。这一问题可通过创建矢量平顶光束来解决。在此，我们利用空间光调制器的偏振相关效率来创建一种矢量平顶光束，该光束在传播过程中能保持其强度分布和矢量特性。我们应用一套完整的经典和量子工具集来分析传播过程中矢量态的动力学，并在光学捕获和光镊应用中展示了这些光束的多功能性。我们简单的生成方法和完整的分析工具箱将吸引希望在各种应用中使用这些光束的读者。
