Shaping of spherical light intensity based on the interference of tightly focused beams with different polarizations

• 3D spherical intensity distributions are formed using tightly focused vortex beams.
• The presence of the vortex phase expands opportunities of the 3D creation.
• The optimal choice of the annular diaphragm provides spherical creations.
• Radial polarization provides the highest quality, but circular one is easier to implement.

We consider the shaping of spherical intensity distributions based on the interference of counter-propagating tightly focused vortex beams with different polarizations. The formation of 3D distributions is performed using a simple method of optimization of the width and position of the single annular aperture. The optimum parameters for the narrow aperture are calculated analytically. In addition the wide aperture parameters are numerically adjusted. It is shown that depending on the polarization, the additional vortex phase and/or phase shift in the beams allow to form either solid light balls or light spheres of subwavelength radius. They consist of the various electric field components.