Abstract-The interference behaviors of a vector optical field with both radially and azimuthally variant states of polarization (SoP) through the Young's two-slits are theoretically studied. The optical field distribution with periodic stripes in the far field results from the interference of the vector optical field through the Young's two-slits with different initial SoP distributions. It is found that the far-field distribution can be manipulated by the incident vector optical field with the initial phase and SoP distributions. Particularly, the distribution of radially-variant SoP in the cross-section of the incident optical field provides an additional freedom to control the interference patterns of the x-component, y-component and total intensity distribution in far field. This approach provides a new method to further expand the functionality of an optical system by considering the distribution of SoP in field cross-section.
The near-field characteristics of a radially-variant vector beam (RVVB) are analyzed by using the vectorial angular spectrum method. The non-paraxial RVVB can be decomposed into the propagating wave and the evanescent wave in near field. The coherent superposition of the longitudinal and transverse components of the RVVB results in a three-dimensional (3D) profile of the spin angular momentum flux density (SAM-FD). The evanescent wave part dominates the near field of a highly non-paraxial RVVB. The longitudinal component has a large impact on the 3D shape of the optical SAM-FD. Therefore, the 3D SAM-FD configuration of the RVVB can be manipulated by choosing the initial states of polarization arrangement. In particular, the transverse SAM-FD with a spin axis orthogonal to the propagation direction offers a promising range of applications spanning from nanophotonics and plasmonics to biophotonics.
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