Stress engineering and the applications of inhomogeneously polarized optical fields

Abstract

Spatial inhomogeneities in the polarization of a light field can show fascinating effects in focusing, propagation, illumination, and imaging. This paper provides examples of these effects and describes how deterministic stress on the periphery of an optical element can be used in fundamental studies of beam propagation, as well as applications such as polarimetry.

Keywords

polarization / birefringence / physical optics

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (PHY-1068325), the Semiconductor Research Corporation, Rochester Precision Optics, and KLA-Tencor Corporation.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg