Asymmetry of longitudinal energy flow in a tightly focused hybrid vector beam

This paper theoretically and numerically demonstrates the asymmetry of the longitudinal energy flow of a tightly focused beam with hybrid polarization. The investigated beam possesses a vortex phase and a polarization state that combines cylindrical and circular polarization. It is shown that the asymmetry depends on the order of the vector polarization; however, it is independent of the topological charge of the optical vortex. Numerically, we also find that the asymmetry persists with increasing distance from the focal plane. The possibility of generating the proposed beams using a spatial light modulator and a vector waveplate was demonstrated experimentally.