Propagation properties of cylindrically polarized vector beam through uniaxial crystals along the optical axis

Propagation properties of cylindrically polarized vector (CV) beams through uniaxial crystals along the optical axis are studied. Diffracted field components of the propagating beam are derived in analytical expressions. Amplitudes of the field components, intensity distributions as well as degrees of polarization upon the propagation are depicted by numerical plots, respectively. It is shown that the field components along the x and y axis shows in different characteristics which is induced by the anisotropy of uniaxial crystals. Furthermore, effects of the initial polarization angle as well as the ratio of refractive indices on degrees of polarization are separately analyzed. Numerical results indicate that the degrees of polarization of the propagating beam generally show oscillating characteristics which certainly become much more visible during the sustained propagation. These results may provide potential applications to the optical polarization encoding or detection of unknown anisotropic scatterer by the utilization of CV beam as the incident light.

► Electric field components of CV beams propagating through uniaxial crystals are derived.
► Intensities as well as degrees of polarization of the diffracted beam are shown by numerical plots.
► Effects of beam parameters and the anisotropy of crystals on the propagation of CV beams are analyzed.