Rui-Pin Chen

Dynamic Control of Collapse in a Vortex Airy Beam

Here we study systematically the self-focusing dynamics and collapse of vortex Airy optical beams in a Kerr medium. The collapse is suppressed compared to a non-vortex Airy beam in a Kerr medium due to the existence of vortex fields. The locations of collapse depend sensitively on the initial power, vortex order, and modulation parameters. The collapse may occur in a position where the initial field is nearly zero, while no collapse appears in the region where the initial field is mainly distributed. Compared with a non-vortex Airy beam, the collapse of a vortex Airy beam can occur at a position away from the area of the initial field distribution. Our study shows the possibility of controlling and manipulating the collapse, especially the precise position of collapse, by purposely choosing appropriate initial power, vortex order or modulation parameters of a vortex Airy beam.

Structured caustic vector vortex optical field: manipulating optical angular momentum flux and polarization rotation

A caustic vector vortex optical field is experimentally generated and demonstrated by a caustic-based approach. The desired caustic with arbitrary acceleration trajectories, as well as the structured states of polarization (SoP) and vortex orders located in different positions in the field cross-section, is generated by imposing the corresponding spatial phase function in a vector vortex optical field. Our study reveals that different spin and orbital angular momentum flux distributions (including opposite directions) in different positions in the cross-section of a caustic vector vortex optical field can be dynamically managed during propagation by intentionally choosing the initial polarization and vortex topological charges, as a result of the modulation of the caustic phase. We find that the SoP in the field cross-section rotates during propagation due to the existence of the vortex. The unique structured feature of the caustic vector vortex optical field opens the possibility of multi-manipulation of optical angular momentum fluxes and SoP, leading to more complex manipulation of the optical field scenarios. Thus this approach further expands the functionality of an optical system.

Far-field properties of a vortex Airy beam.

Analytical far-field expressions for the transverse electric mode and transverse electric magnetic mode terms, and the energy flux distributions of vortex Airy beams are derived based on the vector angular spectrum of the beam and the stationary phase method. The physical pictures of vortex Airy beams from the vectorial structure are illustrated and the energy flux distributions are demonstrated in far-field. The influences of the beam parameters, especially the exponential factor, on the energy flux distributions of vortex Airy beams and its transverse electric mode and transverse electric magnetic mode terms are discussed. This work provides a new understanding of the propagation behaviors and applications of a vortex Airy beam.

Evolution of an Airy beam in a saturated medium

The nonlinear dynamics of an Airy beam in a saturated medium is presented. An analytical expression for the evolution of the Airy beam width in the root-mean-square sense is derived. The novel features of the collapsing beams of an Airy beam in a saturated medium are demonstrated by numerical calculation. These collapsing beams shift laterally and are the main property of the Airy beam. However, the collapsing beam in the major lobe of an Airy beam tends to shift in the opposite direction for conservation of the beam centroid. The location and evolution of the collapsing beams depend strongly on the initial powers. The peak intensities of the collapsing beams oscillate at almost the same intensity in the saturated medium, regardless of their initial powers. These results are useful for manipulating nonlinear wave collapse and multi-filamentation.

Collapse dynamics of a vector vortex optical field with inhomogeneous states of polarization

Based on a pair of coupled 2D nonlinear Schrodinger equations, the collapse dynamics of a vector field with hybrid states of polarization (SoP) in a Kerr medium is demonstrated. The critical power for an optical field to collapse is present, and the full vectorial numerical simulations provide detailed information about the evolution and partial collapse of the vector field in a Kerr medium. Our results reveal that the optical field prefers to collapse in linearly-polarization, as a result of the self-focusing effect difference in linearly, elliptically and circularly polarized components. The SoP in the field cross-section changes and propagates with a spiral trajectory when the vector beams are imposed with a vortex. The vectorial effect on the collapse of a vector optical field can prevail over the noise even though it reaches 10% amplitude of the optical field. The unique feature of these structured collapses of a vector optical field may lead to new phenomena in the interaction of light with matter.

Effect of a spiral phase on a vector optical field with hybrid polarization states

The propagation dynamics of a vector field with inhomogeneous states of polarization (SoP) imposed a vortex is studied using the angular spectrum method. The evolution of SoP in the cross section of the field during propagation is analyzed numerically by the Stokes polarization parameters. The results indicate that SoP in the field cross section rotate along the propagation axis during propagation due to the existence of a vortex. In addition, the interaction between the phase singularity and the polarization singularity leads to the creation or annihilation of the optical field in the central region. In particular, the distributions of the transverse energy flow and both spin and orbital optical angular momentum fluxes in the cross section of the vortex vector optical field depend sensitively on both the vortex and polarization topology charges.

Near-field characteristics of highly non-paraxial subwavelength optical fields with hybrid states of polarization

The vectorial structure of an optical field with hybrid states of polarization (SoP) in the near-field is studied by using the angular spectrum method of an electromagnetic beam. Physical images of the longitudinal components of evanescent waves are illustrated and compared with those of the transverse components from the vectorial structure. Our results indicate that the relative weight integrated over the transverse plane of the evanescent wave depends strongly on the number of the polarization topological charges. The shapes of the intensity profiles of the longitudinal components are different from those of the transverse components, and it can be manipulated by changing the initial SoP of the field cross-section. The longitudinal component of evanescent wave dominates the near-field region. In addition, it also leads to three-dimensional shape variations of the optical field and the optical spin angular momentum flux density distributions.

Vectorial effect of hybrid polarization states on the collapse dynamics of a structured optical field

The collapse dynamics of a structured optical field with a distribution of spatially-variant states of polarization (SoP) and a spiral phase in the field cross section is studied using the two-dimensional coupled nonlinear Schrӧdinger equations. The self-focusing of a structured optical field with an inhomogeneous SoP distribution can give rise to new phenomena of collapse dynamics that is completely different from a scalar field. The collapse patterns are closely related to the topological charges of the vortexas well as the polarization, the initial power, and the SoP distribution in the field cross section. A single on-axis collapse or multiple off-axis partial collapses may occur due to the self-focusing effects of linearly, elliptically and circularly polarized components located at different positions of the field cross-section. The polarization in the core of the collapsing beam is always linearly polarized. The structured collapsing beams, which are driven by the vortex, propagate along a spiral trajectory in a saturated medium.