Structured Light Control and Diagnostics Using Optical Crystals

We describe experimental results exposing the possibilities of optical crystals, especially anisotropic and birefringent, for creation, control, and diagnostics of structured light ﬁelds with singular and extraordinary properties. The efﬁciency of birefringent media is demonstrated for purposeful generation of optical beams with phase singularities (optical vortices) and desirable patterns of internal energy ﬂows, in both the mono- and polychromatic light. On the other hand, anisotropic micro-objects can be used as probing bodies forinvestigationofthepeculiarfeaturesof internalenergy ﬂowsandcorresponding momentumandangularmomentumdistributionsinstructuredlight ﬁelds.Inparticular,the speciﬁc mechanical action of light ﬁelds, formed under the total-reﬂection conditions, has been detected that conﬁrms the existence of “extraordinary” dynamical characteristics of evanescent light waves predicted theoretically: the “transverse” momentum and “vertical” spinandtheirdependenceontheincidentbeampolarization.Theresultscanbeusefulfor the optical trapping and micromanipulation techniques, including the biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.

Ключові слова

structured light, phase singularities, internal energy ﬂows, optical momentum, optical spin, birefringent crystals, optical manipulation, optical diagnostics

Бібліографічний опис

Frontiers in Physics