Uniaxial and/or biaxial crystals, because of their birefringent properties, can dramatically change the polarization of the light which travels through them. Based on that, crystals can be and have been used as a versatile tool to generate complex light with spatially structured phases and/or polarizations. To better understand the behavior of light in birefringent materials and to help design the components that generates complex light, we develop a spectrum-of-plane- wave based simulation technique which handles any kind of optical anisotropies. By using the technique in combination with a semi-analytical Fourier transformation, both high numerical efficiency and accuracy can be obtained simultaneously. With this technique we demonstrate several simulation examples, including the generation of single optical vortices using a uniaxial crystal, the generation of Bessel beam using a biaxial crystal, and the generation of a configurable optical bottle beam.

Date Published: 8 March 2016
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9764, Complex Light and Optical Forces X, 97640I (8 March 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2220602

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9764:
Complex Light and Optical Forces X
Jesper Glückstad; David L. Andrews; Enrique J. Galvez, Editor(s)