Effect of linear polarizers on the behavior of partially coherent and partially polarized highly focused fields

Opt Lett. 2018 Jul 15;43(14):3445-3448. doi: 10.1364/OL.43.003445.

Abstract

In this Letter, we describe the behavior of partially coherent, partially polarized focused vector beams after passing a linear polarizer placed at the focal plane of a high numerical aperture microscope lens. In particular, we develop a mathematical framework for such beams that helps the understanding of the performance of polarizers when interact with non-paraxial beams. The features of the focused field after the polarizer are numerically evaluated for some illustrative examples.