Optics Communications 546 (2023) 129758

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Optics Communications
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optcom

Generation of optical chirality by the tightly focused higher-order Poincaré

sphere vector vortex beams
Mengjiao Zhu, Zhongsheng Man, Liping Zhang, Xiaolu Ge, Kezhen Han, Benyi Wang,
Chengxin Lei ∗
School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: We derive the analytical expressions of the electric and magnetic field vectors as well as optical chirality
Optical chirality density of tightly focused higher-order Poincaré sphere (HOPS) vector vortex beams based on the Richards-
Optical vortex Wolf vector diffraction theory. The optical chirality density induced by the tightly focused HOPS vector vortex
OAM
beams is systematically explored, and its roles with respect to ellipticity, handedness, orientation, polarization
SAM
topological charge (PTC), and vortex topological charge (VTC) are deeply revealed. The research results show
Tight focusing
that apart from the orientation of the polarization ellipse, other parameters of the input vortex beams have a
significant influence on the optical chirality density of the tightly focused fields. It is noteworthy that because
of the introduction of vortex phase, the optical chirality density of linearly polarized light before being focused
carrying no spin angular momentum (SAM) is no longer zero. The change of the sign of VTC and PTC has
an important effect on the sign of optical chirality density of the tightly focused fields, whereas its spatial
distribution and magnitude mainly arises from the change of the value of VTC and PTC. Furthermore, for the
non-linearly polarized input beam, due to the interplay of the orbital angular momentum (OAM) and SAM, the
sign and value of VTC and ellipticity have an important influence not only on the sign, but also on the spatial
distribution and magnitude of the optical chirality density. These research results may provide new insights
into the chiral light–matter interactions and find potential applications in chiral particle trapping, manipulation,
and so on.

1. Introduction
Chirality, which describes a geometrical asymmetry that an object
cannot be superimposed with its mirror image by any rotation and
translation, exists everywhere in nature from organic molecules to the
shapes traced out by spiral galaxies instance [1,2]. Even though, a
chiral object and its enantiomer possess all properties other than their
handedness, they can have completely different biochemical activi-
ties [3]. For example, one enantiomer forms a powerful medicament
while the other one has no therapeutic effect or even may cause serious
side effects [4]. Therefore, the ability to distinguish and separate
the enantiomers is most important in the fields of biochemical and
pharmaceutical industries [4–7]. A significant and prevalent method
for identifying the enantiomer is circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy,
which relies on the fact that chiral molecules interact differently with
left and right circularly polarized light [8]. However, the most enan-
tiomers’ CD signals are inherently weak, so that it is very difficult to
measure with high fidelity, especially in the case of low concentra-
tions [9–11]. Therefore, enhancing the interaction between the light
and chiral molecules has been an intense research subject.
So far, most of the research has focused on the plasmonic nanos-
tructures with intrinsic chiral or achiral geometry under illumination
of circularly or linearly polarized light. However, these nanostructures
are usually complicated whose fabrication process is still very serious
challenge [12–27]. Fortunately, beyond the chirality associated with
the local state of polarization in circularly polarized plane waves,
another significant enantioselectivity improvement can be produced
by super-chiral light. This type of light possesses geometrical chiral
structures associated with global properties of polarization or phase,
named Kelvin’s chirality [28], and the quantification of the chirality
of electromagnetic fields has been demonstrated as optical chirality
density [29]. One of the most well-known types of such structured
light is optical vortex beam [30,31] and the representative mode is
Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) vortex beam [32]. More importantly, optical
vortices have many novel properties, one of the most important is that
they convey an optical OAM [32,33]. Therefore, structured light beams,
such as optical vortices, vector vortex beams have been studied in a
variety of fields [31,34–37]. It has been shown that the interaction
between the vortex beams and the chiral substance can produce optical

∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: leicx@sdut.edu.cn (C. Lei).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2023.129758
Received 3 June 2023; Received in revised form 5 July 2023; Accepted 13 July 2023
Available online 18 July 2023
0030-4018/© 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M. Zhu, Z. Man, L. Zhang et al.
spiral effect similar to the case of the circularly polarized light [38–41].
At the same time, the tight focusing properties of vortex beams have
been extensively studied, which has been shown that the change of
polarization states of the vortex beams has a great effect on their tightly
focused electromagnetic fields [42–45], and the local optical chirality
of tight focusing vortex beams can be enhanced [45–50]. Compared
to the traditional chiral optical fields, due to the unique amplitudes,
phases, polarization states and directions, and so on, the tightly fo-
cused vector vortex beams provide some new possibility to adjust the
spatial distribution of the chiral optical fields and obtain sufficient
information about chiral substance, which is of great significance to
the development of chiral science. However, the spatial distribution of
optical chirality density of tightly focused vector vortex beams and its
influence factors have not been systematically studied and the physical
mechanism has not been fully understood.
In this paper, the optical chirality induced by tightly focused HOPS
vector vortex beams is systematically investigated. Based on the Richards-
Wolf vector diffraction theory, we derive the analytical expressions of
the components of the electric and magnetic field vectors, as well as
the optical chirality density in the tightly focused fields. The role and
contribution of the ellipticity, handedness, orientation, PTC, and VTC
of the input beams in the optical chirality density is systematically
studied and discussed in detail. The research results demonstrate that
the optical chirality density of tightly focused vortex beams has nothing
to do with the orientation, but is closely related to other parameters
of input beams. Although the linearly polarized light does not carry
SAM before being focused, the nonzero optical chirality density can
be obtained because of the introduction of vortex phase under tight
focusing conditions. At the same time, the change of the sign of
VTC and PTC has an important effect on the sign of optical chirality
density of the tightly focused field, whereas its spatial distribution and
magnitude mainly arises from the change of the value of VTC and
PTC. Furthermore, for the non-linearly polarized input beams, due to
the interaction of the OAM and SAM, the sign and value of VTC and
ellipticity not only have an important influence on the sign, but also on
the spatial distribution and magnitude of the optical chirality density.
2. Theory
To explore the important role of SAM and OAM in enhancing the
optical chirality density of tightly focused fields, we focus on the
structured vector vortex beams that have both spatially inhomogeneous
polarization state and vortex phase structure. The polarization states
of these beams can be represented by the points on the surface of the
HOPS [Fig. 1]. The coordinates of the point in the Cartesian system,
denoted 𝑆1 , 𝑆2 , 𝑆3 , represent the Stokes parameters. In the HOPS,
angles 2𝛷 and 2𝛩 stand for the longitude and latitude of the point.
Meanwhile, the ellipticity 𝜎 determines the shape of the polarization
ellipse, which is defined by 𝜎 = tan𝛩, and angle 𝛷 specifies the
orientation of the polarization ellipse. Any polarization state on the
HOPS can be described by the superposition of a pair of orthogonal base
vectors. For instance, a pair of orthogonal base vectors are left-handed
{ }
(LH) and right-handed (RH) unit vectors 𝑒̂𝐿 , 𝑒̂𝑅 , which denotes the
LH and RH circularly polarized fields. Thus, the polarization state at
a given point (2𝛷, 2𝛩) on HOPS can be described by a unit vector, as
follows [51–54]
𝑃̂ (2𝛷, 2𝛩) = cos 𝑇 exp(−𝑖𝛷) exp(𝑖𝑚𝜑)̂e𝑅
(1)
+ sin 𝑇 exp(𝑖𝛷) exp(−𝑖𝑚𝜑)̂e𝐿
( ) /√ ( ) /√
where 𝑒̂𝑅 = 𝑒̂𝑥 − 𝑖𝑒̂𝑦 2 and 𝑒̂𝐿 = 𝑒̂𝑥 + 𝑖𝑒̂𝑦 2 are the orthog-
onally circular unit base vectors with respect to unit vectors 𝑒̂𝑥 and
𝑒̂𝑦 directed along the x and y axes. Two base vectors possess opposite
vortex phase exp(±𝑖𝑚𝜑) (𝑚 is the PTC) and their coefficients are as
follow
𝐴𝑅 = cos 𝑇 exp(−𝑖𝛷), 𝐴𝐿 = sin 𝑇 exp(𝑖𝛷) (2)
2
Optics Communications 546 (2023) 129758
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the HOPS, which represents for all possible states of
polarization of input beams.
Here, 𝑇 = (𝜋∕4) − 𝛩 determines the relative intensity fraction of the
[ ]
two bases and owns a range of 0, 𝜋∕2 .
Clearly, the north (𝛩 = 𝜋∕4, 𝜎 = 1) and south (𝛩 = −𝜋∕4, 𝜎 = −1)
poles of the HOPS represent the RH and LH circularly polarized vortex
beams, respectively. While, at the equator of the HOPS (𝛩 = 0, 𝜎 = 0),
the Eq. (1) can be written as
𝑃̂ (2𝛷, 2𝛩) = cos (𝑚𝜑 − 𝛷) ê 𝑥 + sin (𝑚𝜑 − 𝛷) ê 𝑦 (3)
Such kinds of HOPS beams are well-known higher-order cylindrical
vector beams, and the states of polarization at any positions in the field
cross section are all linearly polarized. Furthermore, for the generalized
cases (𝜎 ≠ 0, ±1), the northern and southern hemispheres represent the
RH and LH elliptically polarized beams, respectively.
To quantitatively study the optical chirality of input beams under
tight focusing conditions, the components of electric and magnetic
field vectors of the HOPS vector vortex beams focused under a high-
numerical-aperture (NA) focusing system with focal length 𝑓 are calcu-
lated based on the Richards-Wolf vector diffraction theory. In the focal
plane, the expressions of the electric and magnetic field vectors under
the cylindrical coordinates (r, 𝜙, z) are expressed as [55]:
[ ] [ 𝑒]
𝐄 (𝑟, 𝜙, 𝑧) 𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝛼 2𝜋 1 𝐕
=− 𝐴(𝜃) cos 2 𝜃 𝐾(𝜑, 𝜃) sin 𝜃d𝜑d𝜃, (4)
𝐇 (𝑟, 𝜙, 𝑧) 2𝜋 ∫ 0 ∫0 𝐕ℎ
where 𝑘 = 2𝜋∕𝜆 denotes the wavenumber and 𝜆 is the wavelength in the
image space. 𝛼 = arcsin (𝑁𝐴∕𝑛) is the semi-aperture angle, 𝑁𝐴 is the
numerical aperture of the objective lens, and 𝑛 is the refractive index
of the image space. The angles 𝜑 and 𝜃 show the azimuth angle and the
polar angle with respect to the x axis and the z axis in the objective
space, respectively. The propagation factor 𝐾(𝜑, 𝜃) is given by
𝐾(𝜑,𝜃) = exp(𝑖𝑘⃖𝒔⃗ ⋅ 𝒓⃖⃗) = exp[𝑖𝑘(−𝑟 sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑 − 𝜙) + 𝑧 cos 𝜃)] (5)
where 𝑠⃖⃗ = − sin 𝜃 cos 𝜑𝑥̂ − sin 𝜃 sin 𝜑𝑦̂ + cos 𝜃 𝑧̂ is the unit vector of the
wave vector in the image space, and ⃗𝑟 = 𝑟 cos 𝜙𝑥̂ + 𝑟 sin 𝜙𝑦̂ + 𝑧𝑧̂ is the
polar vector of the point P near the focus.
According to the Richards-Wolf vectorial diffraction theory [55],
when the input beam is described by Eq. (1), the concrete analytical
expressions of the electric and magnetic polarization vectors 𝑽 𝒆 and 𝑽 𝒉
in the image space can be derived, and their components are expressed
as follows:
⎧V𝑒 = 𝐶 (sin2 𝜑 + cos2 𝜑 cos 𝜃) + 𝐶 [sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑(cos 𝜃 − 1)] ,
⎪ 𝑥 1 2
⎪ 𝑒 2 2
V
⎨ 𝑦 = 𝐶 1 [sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑(cos 𝜃 − 1)] + 𝐶 2 (sin 𝜑 cos 𝜃 + cos 𝜑), (6)
⎪
⎪V𝑒𝑧 = 𝐶1 sin 𝜃 cos 𝜑 + 𝐶2 sin 𝜑 sin 𝜃,
⎩
M. Zhu, Z. Man, L. Zhang et al. Optics Communications 546 (2023) 129758

𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝛼 2𝜋 [ ( ) ]
𝐸𝑥 = − 𝐴 (𝜃) cos1∕2 𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝐶1 sin2 𝜑 + cos2 𝜑 cos 𝜃 + 𝐶2 sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑 (cos 𝜃 − 1) 𝑒𝑖𝑘[−𝑟⋅sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑−𝜙)+𝑧⋅cos 𝜃] 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃 (12)
2𝜋 ∫0 ∫0
𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝛼 2𝜋 [ ( )]
𝐸𝑦 = − 𝐴 (𝜃) cos1∕2 𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝐶1 sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑 (cos 𝜃 − 1) + 𝐶2 sin2 𝜑 cos 𝜃 + cos2 𝜑 𝑒𝑖𝑘[−𝑟⋅sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑−𝜙)+𝑧⋅cos 𝜃] 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃 (13)
2𝜋 ∫0 ∫0
𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝛼 2𝜋 [ ]
𝐸𝑧 = − 𝐴 (𝜃) cos1∕2 𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝐶1 cos 𝜑 sin 𝜃 + 𝐶2 sin 𝜑 sin 𝜃 𝑒𝑖𝑘[−𝑟⋅sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑−𝜙)+𝑧⋅cos 𝜃] 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃 (14)
∫
2𝜋 0 0 ∫
√
𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝜀
𝛼 2𝜋 [ ( )]
𝐻𝑥 = − 𝐴 (𝜃) cos1∕2 𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝐶1 sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑 (cos 𝜃 − 1) − 𝐶2 sin2 𝜑 + cos2 𝜑 cos 𝜃 𝑒𝑖𝑘[−𝑟⋅sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑−𝜙)+𝑧⋅cos 𝜃] 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃 (15)
2𝜋 ∫
𝜇 0 0 ∫
√
𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝜀
𝛼 2𝜋 [ ( ) ]
𝐻𝑦 = − 𝐴 (𝜃) cos1∕2 𝜃 sin 𝜃 𝐶1 cos2 𝜑 + sin2 𝜑 cos 𝜃 − 𝐶2 sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑 (cos 𝜃 − 1) 𝑒𝑖𝑘[−𝑟⋅sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑−𝜙)+𝑧⋅cos 𝜃] 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃 (16)
2𝜋 𝜇 ∫0 ∫0
√
𝑖𝑘𝑓 𝜀
𝛼 2𝜋 [ ]
𝐻𝑧 = − 𝐴 (𝜃) cos1∕2 𝜃 sin2 𝜃 𝐶1 sin 𝜑 − 𝐶2 cos 𝜑 𝑒𝑖𝑘[−𝑟⋅sin 𝜃 cos(𝜑−𝜙)+𝑧⋅cos 𝜃] 𝑑𝜑𝑑𝜃 (17)
2𝜋 𝜇 ∫0 ∫0

Box I.
√
⎧Vℎ = 𝜀{ }
⎪ 𝑥 𝐶1 [sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑(cos 𝜃 − 1)] − 𝐶2 (sin2 𝜑 + cos2 𝜑 cos 𝜃) , asterisk indicates the complex conjugation of the variable, and Im [𝜉]
𝜇
⎪ √ stands for the imaginary part.
⎪Vℎ = 𝜀{ }
𝐶1 (cos 𝜃 sin2 𝜑 + cos2 𝜑) + 𝐶2 [sin 𝜑 cos 𝜑(1 − cos 𝜃)] , (7) Based on the derived components of electric and magnetic field
⎨ 𝑦 𝜇
⎪ √ vectors, which are provided in Eqs. (12)–(17), the optical chirality
⎪Vℎ = 𝜀[ ]
density can be calculated.
𝐶 sin 𝜑 sin 𝜃 − 𝐶2 sin 𝜃 cos 𝜑 ,
⎪ 𝑧 𝜇 1 ( )
⎩ 𝜔
⟨𝜒⟩ = Im 𝐸𝑥 ⋅ 𝐻𝑥∗ + 𝐸𝑦 ⋅ 𝐻𝑦∗ + 𝐸𝑧 ⋅ 𝐻𝑧∗ (19)
where 𝜀 and 𝜇 express the permittivity and permeability in the image 2𝑐 2
space, respectively. And the 𝐶1 and 𝐶2 are the coefficients, which are as In the following theoretical calculations, we set 𝑁𝐴 = 1.2, 𝜆 =
follows: 0.532 μ𝑚, 𝑓 = 2 mm, 𝑛 = 1.33, and 𝛽 = 1.5.
1
𝐶1 = √ [cos 𝑇 exp(−𝑖𝛷) exp(𝑖𝑚𝜑) + sin 𝑇 exp(𝑖𝛷) exp(−𝑖𝑚𝜑)], (8)
2 3. Results and discussions
1
𝐶2 = 𝑖 √ [sin 𝑇 exp(𝑖𝛷) exp(−𝑖𝑚𝜑) − cos 𝑇 exp(−𝑖𝛷) exp(𝑖𝑚𝜑)], (9)
3.1. Effects of VTC and PTC on the optical chirality density
2
As the well-known vortex beam, LG vortex beam which possesses an
First, we investigate the effects of VTC and PTC of the HOPS vector
azimuthal phase exp(𝑖𝑙𝜑) and carries optical OAM is widely applied in
vortex beams on the optical chirality density of the tightly focused
modern photonics. This kind of vortex beam propagating with helical
field. Fig. 2 shows the distributions of the optical chirality density
wavefront is inherently chiral irrespective of its polarization and has a
of the tightly focused HOPS vector vortex beams with different VTC
handedness, twisting to the left l > 0 or right l < 0. Hence, to reveal
and PTC when the ellipticity and polarization orientation are fixed at
the effect of optical vortex on the optical chirality of the tightly focused
𝜎 = 0, 𝛷 = 0, respectively. Here, we take the point 𝑃3 on the HOPS as an
fields, this kind of vortex beam is employed. Its initial amplitude profile
can be expressed as [33,44,56]: example, which denotes that these input LG beams are all the linearly
polarized lights carrying no SAM. It is obvious that when m = 0, the
√ sin 𝜃 [ ( ) ] [ ( ) ]
sin 𝜃 2 |𝑙| sin 𝜃 2 input beams are linearly x-polarized Laguerre Gaussian vector vortex
𝐴(𝜃) = ( 2𝛽 )|𝑙| exp −𝛽 2 𝐿𝑝 2𝛽 2 exp(𝑖𝑙𝜑)
sin 𝛼 sin 𝛼 sin 𝛼 beams, whose expressions have been shown in the Eqs. (3) and (11).
(10) For these input beams, when 𝑙 = 0, which correspond to a non-vortex
Gaussian beams, their optical chirality density in the tightly focused
where 𝛽 is the truncation parameter of the focusing system, which is field are zero [shown in Fig. 2(m)]. Notably, the introduction of vortex
|𝑙|
the ratio of the entrance pupil radius to the beam waist radius; 𝐿𝑝 is phase representing the appearance of OAM leads to the emergence of
the generalized Laguerre polynomial, p is the radial quantum number, the optical chirality density of tightly focused field, which denotes that
and l is the VTC; and 𝜑 is the azimuthal angle. For simplicity we only the optical chirality density of the tightly focused field can be solely
|𝑙|
consider the case of 𝑝 = 0, and the Laguerre polynomial 𝐿𝑝 (𝜁) = 1. attributed to the OAM of the incident field. With the increase of the
Thus, the expression of the function 𝐴(𝜃) simplifies to the following absolute value of l, the optical chirality density emerges a bicyclic
form.
[ distribution with opposite sign, and the radii of the two concentric rings
√ sin 𝜃 ( ) ]
sin 𝜃 2
𝐴(𝜃) = ( 2𝛽 )|𝑙| exp −𝛽 2 exp(𝑖𝑙𝜑) (11) increase gradually. At the same time, the inner ring emerges hollowing,
sin 𝛼 sin 𝛼 i.e., the optical chirality density becomes zero, and the absolute value
Substituting the Eqs. (5)–(9), and (11) into Eq. (4), the concrete ex- of optical chirality density decreases gradually [shown in Fig. 2(c), (h)
pressions of the components of electric and magnetic field vectors and (r), (w)]. Furthermore, it is quite obvious that the inner ring has the
are obtained, and their three mutually perpendicular components are opposite signed optical chirality density to the VTC (i.e., the wavefront
represented (see Eqs. (12)–(17) given in the Box I). handedness), which is completely consistent with the conclusions of the
The cycle-averaged optical chirality density for a monochromatic Refs. [40,41], and [50]. In a word, for the linearly x-polarized Laguerre
beam can be expressed as [29,57]: Gaussian vector vortex beams without SAM, the sign, spatial distribu-
𝜔 ( ) tion and magnitude of the optical chirality density of the focusing field
⟨𝜒⟩ = Im 𝑬 ⋅ 𝑯 ∗ , (18)
2𝒄 2 depends entirely on the sign and value of the VTC. In other words, we
where 𝜔 and c represent the angular frequency and the speed of optical can completely adjust the spatial distribution, magnitude and sign of
field under vacuum, respectively; 𝑬 and 𝑯 are the electric and mag- the optical chirality density of the focusing field by varying the value
netic field vectors in the space domain, respectively; The superscript and sign of VTC.

3
M. Zhu, Z. Man, L. Zhang et al.
Fig. 2. The distributions of optical chirality density in the focal plane of the highly focused HOPS vector vortex beam with the polarization states located at point P3 with l =
−2, −1, 0, 1, 2 and m = −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, respectively. All distributions of the optical chirality density are normalized to their common maximum. The insets in each diagram
show the optical chirality density profiles along the x axis.
Meanwhile, if the 𝑚 ≠ 0, the input beams become the linearly
higher-order cylindrical Laguerre Gaussian vector vortex beams. It is
found from Fig. 2(k), (l), (n), (o), as long as 𝑙 = 0, 𝜎 = 0 (i.e., the
linearly polarized beams without OAM and SAM), the optical chirality
densities are always equal to zero, regardless of the value of PTC. As
the same as the case of 𝑚 = 0, due to the introduction of vortex phase
(i.e., 𝑙 ≠ 0), the optical chirality densities of tightly focused field are
also no longer zero, and their spatial distributions show the doughnut
structures, the inner rings emerges hollowing with the increase of VTC.
Meanwhile, the absolute value of VTC has an important effect on the
spatial distribution and magnitude of the optical chirality density of the
focusing field. It is remarkable that due to the interaction of PTV and
VTC, the sign of the inner ring of optical chirality density is no longer
just opposite to the sign of VTC, however, the same sign of the PTC and
VTC leads to the emergence of positive value of the chirality density in
the central region of the focal plane, otherwise, it is negative. At the
same time, the variation of optical chirality density in the outer region
4
Optics Communications 546 (2023) 129758
is just opposite to that of the inner region. Furthermore, when the PTC
does not change, the sign of VTC can only change the sign of optical
chirality density, but cannot change its spatial distribution profile and
absolute value.
When the VTC keeps fixed, with the increase of the absolute value
of PTC, the optical chirality density also emerges a bicyclic distribution
with opposite sign, and the radii of two rings increase gradually.
Meanwhile, the absolute value of the optical chirality density changes,
and the inner ring also appears hollow phenomenon. Similar to the
influence of the sign of VTC on the optical chirality density, the sign of
PTC also has an influence on the sign of optical chirality density, but
not on its spatial distribution profile and absolute value.
3.2. Effects of polarization ellipticity on the optical chirality density
As mentioned above, for the generalized cases (𝜎 ≠ 0), the southern
and northern hemispheres represent the LH and RH elliptically or cir-
cularly polarized beams, which possess the SAM. For any point on the
M. Zhu, Z. Man, L. Zhang et al.
Fig. 3. The distributions of optical chirality density in the focal plane of the highly focused HOPS vector vortex beams with different polarization states located at points 𝑃1 , 𝑃2 ,
𝑃3 , 𝑃4 , 𝑃5 with l = −1, 0, 1, and 𝑚 = 1, respectively. All distributions of the optical chirality density are normalized to their common maximum. The insets in each diagram show
the optical chirality density profiles along the x axis.
HOPS moving from the south pole toward the north pole along a fixed
longitude line, the ellipticity of the polarization ellipse varies from −1
to 0 and then to 1, the handedness changes from left-handed rotation
to right-handed rotation, but the polarization orientation remains the
same. Here, we take five different polarized HOPS beams located at
points 𝑃1 , 𝑃2 , 𝑃3 , 𝑃4 and 𝑃5 [see Fig. 1] to discuss the effects of the
ellipticity and VTC on the optical chirality density distribution of the
focused field, as demonstrated in Fig. 3. It is clear that the distribution
of optical chirality density alters with the changes of the ellipticity
and VTC. Specifically, when 𝑙 = 0, for the case of 𝜎 = 0, the optical
chirality density of tightly focused vortex beam is zero (shown in Fig. 3
(h)), which agrees with the Fig. 2(n), whereas, for the other cases of
𝜎 ≠ 0, the magnitude of optical chirality density increases with the
increase of the ellipticity, and the change of the sign of ellipticity has
an effect on the sign and spatial distribution of the optical chirality
density of tightly focused vortex beam (shown in Fig. 3(f), (g), (i),
(j)). This is because that in a tightly focused non-linearly polarized
light (i.e., 𝜎 ≠ 0), the SAM of input beam can be transformed into
the OAM of the focused field, which is referred to as spin-to-orbit-
conversion (SOC) [58]. Moreover, due to the introduction of vortex
phase, the optical chirality density of point 𝑃3 carrying no SAM on
HOPs is no longer zero (see Fig. 3(c) and (m)), which is the same as
the case of Fig. 2(i) or (s). Furthermore, it is noteworthy that, when
𝑙 ≠ 0, the change of the ellipticity has a more serious effect on the
spatial distribution and magnitude of the optical chirality density than
that of the case of 𝑙 = 0. More importantly, the sign of ellipticity,
i.e., the handedness not only changes the sign and magnitude of optical
chirality density, but also changes the structure of optical chirality
density distribution, which agrees with the conclusions of Ref. [48]. It
is no doubt that the phenomena above are attributed to the conversion
and/or interplay of SAM and OAM [52]. Meanwhile, it is found that
the sign of optical chirality density is mainly determined by the sign of
the ellipticity of the incident beam, which denotes that the SAM plays
a dominate role for the sign of optical chirality density. Most striking is
5
Optics Communications 546 (2023) 129758
that when the signs of ellipticity and VTC are opposite, we obtain an on-
axis optical chirality density distribution whose sign is opposite to the
sign of ellipticity (shown in Fig. 3(a), (b) and (n), (o)); however, when
their signs are identical, there is no on-axis optical chirality density,
and the sign of the outer ring is the same as the sign of ellipticity (see
Fig. 3(d), (e) and (k), (l)). What is more, for the incident beams with
different ellipticity, the sign of the VTC not only changes the sign of the
optical chirality density, but also changes its distribution pattern. Of
course, this is also attributed to the interplay between SAM and OAM.
3.3. Effects of input orientation on the optical chirality density
For the points located on the same latitude of the HOPS, which
means that these corresponding polarization ellipses possess the same
handedness and ellipticity, but different orientation. Here, we take five
LG vortex beams with 𝑙 = 1 and different polarization states located
at points 𝑃4 , 𝑃6 , 𝑃7 , 𝑃8 and 𝑃9 [shown in Fig. 1] as examples to
explore the effects of input orientation on the optical chirality density
distribution, demonstrated in Fig. 4. It is striking that for all the
input beams with different orientations, the optical chirality density
distributions demonstrate the same patterns, revealing that the optical
chirality density of the focused beam has nothing to do with the input
orientation.
4. Conclusions
Based on the Richards-Wolf vector diffraction theory, we have
derived the analytical expressions of the components of electric and
magnetic field vectors, as well as the optical chirality density of the
tightly focused HOPS vector vortex beams. We have systematically
studied the optical chirality density of these vector vortex beams, and
thoroughly discussed the influence of ellipticity, handedness, orienta-
tion, PTC and VTC on the spatial distributions and the signs of the
M. Zhu, Z. Man, L. Zhang et al.
Fig. 4. The distributions of optical chirality density in the focal plane of the highly focused HOPS vector vortex beams with different orientations located at points P4, P6, P7,
P8, P9 with 𝑙 = 1, 𝑚 = 1, respectively. All distributions of the optical chirality density are normalized to their common maximum. The insets in each diagram show the optical
chirality density profiles along the x axis.
optical chirality density in the focus plane. The results show that apart
from the orientation of the polarization ellipse, these parameters of the
input vortex beams have a significant influence on the optical chirality
density of the tightly focused fields. It is noteworthy that unlike the
non-vortex vector beams, the vector vortex beams are unique in that
they possess optical chirality densities even if the input beam is linearly
polarized without SAM before being focused. Given a fixed VTC, the
change of the sign of PTC has a dominant effect on the sign of the
optical chirality density of tightly focused vortex beam, and the changes
of spatial distribution and magnitude of the optical chirality density
result from the variation of the value of PTC. At the same time, when
the PTC keeps fixed, the sign of VTC can only change the sign of optical
chirality density, but cannot change its spatial distribution profile and
absolute value. Furthermore, for the non-linearly polarized input beam
(i.e., 𝜎 ≠ 0), because of the interplay of the OAM and SAM, the sign and
value of VTC and ellipticity have an important influence not only on the
sign of the optical chirality density, but also on its spatial distribution
and magnitude. It is remarkable that the sign of optical chirality density
is mainly determined by the sign of the ellipticity of the input beam,
which denotes that the SAM plays a dominate role for the sign of optical
chirality density. Therefore, we can easily adjust the optical chirality
of tightly focused vortex beam by the structure parameters of input
beams including ellipticity, handedness, PTC and VTC. These research
results have an important academic and practical application value
in understanding the interactions between optical vortex beams with
chiral matter and provide an alternative pathway for adjusting the local
chirality of the optical vortex beams.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 12074224, 12204278) and the
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (Grant No.
ZR2021YQ02).
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