Reference-free quantitative microscopic imaging of coherent arbitrary vectorial light beams.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Quantum Optics
• Microscopy

Background:

• Precise spatial characterization of vectorial beams is essential for advanced optical experiments.
• Simultaneously analyzing wavefront and polarization presents significant challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel reference-free method for extracting complex-amplitude components of coherent beams.
• To achieve optical-microscopy resolution in spatial beam characterization.

Main Methods:

• Exploitation of recent advances in ptychographic imaging approaches.
• Development of a reference-free technique for vectorial beam analysis.

Main Results:

• Successful reconstruction of complex-amplitude maps for various vectorial beams.
• Demonstrated versatility with polarization and phase vortices, multicore fiber fields, and speckle patterns.

Conclusions:

• The proposed method offers a versatile and high-resolution solution for vectorial beam characterization.
• This technique overcomes limitations in simultaneously analyzing wavefront and polarization.