Analytical model of the optical vortex scanning microscope with a simple phase object

Abstract

An analytical model of an optical vortex microscope, in which a simple phase object was inserted into the illuminating beam, is presented. In this microscope, the focused vortex beam interacts with an object and transmits the corresponding information to the detection plane. It was shown that the beam at the detection plane can be separated analytically into two parts: a non-disturbed vortex part and an object beam part. The intensity of the non-disturbed part spreads out over the center; hence, the small disturbance introduced by the object can be detected at the image center. A first procedure for recovering information about the object from this set-up was proposed. The theory was verified experimentally.