The generation of a complete spiral spot and multi split rings by focusing three circularly polarized vortex beams

We demonstrate that a complete right-handed or left-handed spiral-shaped focus can be created by focusing circularly polarized and three spatially shifted vortex beams through high numerical objective. By dividing the back aperture into multi annular zones and applying an additional phase term, the multi focal spots aligned along z axis of individual three dimensional focal shapes can be generated. The spiral shaped focus provides a pathway of manipulating the micro-particles in a curved trajectory and opens up a possibility of measuring mechanical torque of biological large molecules such as DNA by chemically binding one end on the cover-glass. The multi focal spots aligned along the z axis can eliminate the need of z axis scanning in the direct laser writing fabrication of some metamaterials. which is composed of three-dimensional array of specific shapes of building blocks. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.