Three-dimensional orientation-unlimited polarization encryption by a single optically configured vectorial beam
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Open Access
- 1 January 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Communications
- Vol. 3 (1), 998
- https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2006
Abstract
The interplay between light polarization and matter is the basis of many fundamental physical processes and applications. However, the electromagnetic wave nature of light in free space sets a fundamental limit on the three-dimensional polarization orientation of a light beam. Although a high numerical aperture objective can be used to bend the wavefront of a radially polarized beam to generate the longitudinal polarization state in the focal volume, the arbitrary three-dimensional polarization orientation of a beam has not been achieved yet. Here we present a novel technique for generating arbitrary three-dimensional polarization orientation by a single optically configured vectorial beam. As a consequence, by applying this technique to gold nanorods, orientation-unlimited polarization encryption with ultra-security is demonstrated. These results represent a new landmark of the orientation-unlimited three-dimensional polarization control of the light–matter interaction.Keywords
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