Vortex and anti-vortex compositions of exact elegant Laguerre-Gaussian vector beams

Abstract

Reformulation of conventional beam definitions into their bidirectional versions and use of Hertz potentials make beam fields exact vector solutions to Maxwell's equations. This procedure is applied to higher-order elegant Laguerre-Gaussian beams of transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarization. Their vortex and anti-vortex co-axial compositions of equal and opposite topological charges are given in a closed analytic form. Polarization components of the composed beams are specified by their radial and azimuthal indices. The longitudinal components are common for beam compositions of both types; meanwhile, their transverse components are different and comprise two - nonparaxial and paraxial - separate parts distinguished by a paraxial parameter and its inverse, respectively. The new solutions may appear useful in modeling and tailoring of arbitrary vector beams. © 2014 The Author(s).