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Abstract

This chapter describes the polarization optimized focusing of light and coupling to sub-wavelength antennae. In a set-up for focusing of light, the lens system transforms the transverse field distribution at the input into the transverse field distribution at the focal plane. The parameters of the input beam are the transverse intensity and phase distribution as well as its state of polarization. The various optical rays directed by the lens to the focal spot typically carry different polarizations even if the input beam has a homogeneous polarization distribution across the beam. Locally the polarization is linear everywhere but the direction of the electric field vector depends on the transverse coordinates within the cross section of the beam in such a way that the electric field vectors oscillate in the radial direction. In the limit of high numerical aperture, focusing the field distribution at and near the focus is calculated using the Debye approximation. The effects of the vector properties of light on the structure of the focus are best observed if two special input beams are compared with identical intensity distribution but different polarization properties