Partially coherent radially polarized circular Airy beam.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Laser Physics

Background:

• Partially coherent beams offer unique properties compared to fully coherent beams.
• Radially polarized circular Airy beams (RPCAB) exhibit autofocusing and create optical potential wells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel partially coherent vector beam: the partially coherent radially polarized circular Airy beam (PCRPCAB).
• To investigate the influence of coherent width on the beam's properties and potential applications.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical proposal and experimental demonstration of the PCRPCAB.
• Analysis of beam propagation characteristics and intensity profiles.
• Investigation of polarization singularity and degree of polarization (DOP) evolution.

Main Results:

• The PCRPCAB inherits the autofocusing property of RPCAB.
• Adjustable optical potential wells are created at the beam's center by controlling the coherent width.
• Decreasing coherent width increases intensity in the polarization singularity's dark notch.
• The singularity of the degree of polarization (DOP) is maintained during propagation, with controllable waist size.

Conclusions:

• The PCRPCAB is a new type of partially coherent vector beam with tunable properties.
• The controllable optical potential well and intensity modulation make PCRPCAB suitable for optical micromanipulation and disordered optical lattices.