TRANSPORTING AND FOCUSING RADIALLY POLARIZED LASER-BEAMS

A radially polarized laser beam is useful for applications such as laser particle acceleration. The issues of transporting and focusing (with an axicon) a radially polarized beam that was generated in the laboratory are examined. Problems of preserving the polarization while directing the beam are solved by using a compound 90-deg-fold out-of-plane pair of mirrors. When focused by an axicon, the radially polarized beam produces a diffraction-free Bessel beam. The transverse intensity distribution agrees with theory.