Three-dimensional measurement of a tightly focused laser beam

The spatial structure of a tightly focused light field is measured with a double knife-edge scanning method. The measurement method is based on the use of a high-quality double knife-edge fabricated from a right-angled silicon fragment mounted on a photodetector. The reconstruction of the three-dimensional structures of tightly focused spots is carried out with both uniform and partially obstructed linearly polarized incident light beams. The optical field distribution is found to deviate substantially from the input beam profile in the tightly focused region, which is in good agreement with the results of numerical simulations. Copyright 2013 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4791764]