Spin Hall Effect of Double-Index Cylindrical Vector Beams in a Tight Focus

Abstract

We investigate the spin angular momentum (SAM) of double-index cylindrical vector beams in tight focus. Such a set of beams is a generalization of the conventional cylindrical vector beams since the polarization order is different for the different transverse field components. Based on the Richards-Wolf theory, we obtain an expression for the SAM distribution and show that if the polarization orders are of different parity, then the spin Hall effect occurs in the tight focus, which is there are alternating areas with positive and negative spin angular momentum, despite linear polarization of the initial field. We also analyze the orbital angular momentum spectrum of all the components of the focused light field and determine the overwhelming angular harmonics. Neglecting the weak harmonics, we predict the SAM distribution and demonstrate the ability to generate the focal distribution where the areas with the positive and negative spin angular momentum reside on a ring and are alternating in pairs, or separated in different semicircles. Application areas of the obtained results are designing micromachines with optically driven elements.

Keywords

• cylindrical vector beam
• double-index cylindrical vector beam
• tight focus
• Richards-Wolf theory
• spin angular momentum
• optical spin Hall effect