Spin–orbit photonic interaction engineering of Bessel beams

International audience; Interaction between the polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of a light field has become a powerful tool to tailor the amplitude and phase of light beams. This usually implies the use of space-variant photonic elements involving sophisticated fabrication technologies. Here we report on the optical spin orbit engineering of the intensity, phase, and polarization structure of Bessel light beams using a homogeneous birefringent axicon. Various kinds of spatially modulated free-space light fields are predicted depending on the nature of the incident light field impinging on the birefringent axicon. In particular, we present the generation of bottle beam arrays, hollow beams with periodic modulation of the core size, and hollow needle beams with periodic modulation of the orbital angular momentum. An experimental attempt is also reported. The proposed structured light fields may find applications in long-distance optical manipulation endowed with self-healing features, periodic atomic waveguides, contactless handling of high aspect ratio micro-objects, and optical shearing of matter.