Work

Relaxing Coherence Requirements on Laser Sources for Nanoscopy through Optical Fiber Technique

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: High numerical-aperture (NA) focusing of cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) typically requires costly, high-quality lasers to supply a stable vector pupil field. Here, we introduce fiber-conditioned vectorial nanofocusing, in which an optical-fiber-based mode-selective coupler projects a strongly distorted beam of a diode that costs two orders of magnitude less than the reference laser into radially or azimuthally polarized CVBs. A three-tolerance analysis clarifies its operating principle by establishing separate requirements for spatial state, temporal coherence and residual wavefront error. The resulting fields reproduce expected high-NA focal signatures and generate orientation-sensitive single-molecule excitation patterns consistent with reference-laser measurements, lowering the barrier to structured-light experiments.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04924

Authors: Xin, Kaifa, Hou, Mengdie, Yang, Ao, Gelléri, Márton, Lee, Hyun-Keun, Failla, Antonio Virgilio, Lu, Jiafeng, Zeng, Xianglong, Bonn, Mischa, Lægsgaard, Jesper, Liu, Xiaomin

Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Shanghai University, Technical University of Denmark

Language: English

Topic: Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, China Scholarship Council, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme

Awards: G1574603548, SFB 1552: Defekte und Defektkontrolle in weicher Materie, G8803313592

OpenAlex ID: W7211905966

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