Optical lattices engineered by vector polarization and multisector amplitude modulation

Abstract

Optical lattices have several applications including super-resolution imaging, lithography, and light-tweezers. Compared with the conventional multibeam interference method, optical lattices in a tightly focused light fields are presented by cylindrical vector polarization illumination and multisector amplitude modulation. The polarization and phase difference of the illumination beam, including the size and relative position of the sectors, were analyzed using the vector diffraction theory. The obtained results indicate that the primitive cell shape of optical lattices can be controlled by the polarization direction of the illumination beam when the relative positions of sectors in the amplitude modulation mask are set. In addition, the period and primitive cell shape of optical lattices with hyper or complex constructions can be controlled by the relative positions of sectors, while the optical lattice zone primarily depends on the sector size. By combining polarization and amplitude modulation in a high numerical aperture optical system, these engineered optical lattices are potentially beneficial in expanding their applications.