Fig. 1. Schematic diagram for overall polarization manipulation. The inset is an azimuthally adjustable angular selector as the amplitude filter inserted at the back aperture of the OB. ε and ζ are changeable. The BS1, BS2, BS3, and BS4 are the beam splitters, and M1, M2, and M3 are the mirrors. RPC, APC, and LP are radial polarization converter, azimuthal polarization converter, and linear polarizer, respectively.

Fig. 2. Three-dimensional intensity and polarization distribution in the focal volume and two-dimensional polarization distribution in the focal plane. (a) Pure radially polarized beam; (b) pure azimuthally polarized beam; (c) pure x-axis polarized beam. First column is the intensity distributions; second column is the perspective views of polarization distribution; third column is the top view of polarization distribution in the focal plane.

Fig. 3. Overall polarization orientation in the focal volume: (a) the incident beam is a pure radially polarized beam. The blue arrow denoting the polarization direction is oriented with a polar angle of 90°; (b) the incident beam is a pure uniform azimuthally polarized beam. There is no longitudinally polarized component. In the volume enclosed with the surface of equal intensity, which is half of the maximum intensity, the local transverse components canceled each other. There is also no transversely polarized component in the volume; (c) a pure uniform x-axis polarized beam generates an overall x-axis polarized component when it is focused by an OB.

Fig. 4. Manipulation of the azimuthal angle of the overall polarization orientation by the combination of a pure uniform azimuthally polarized beam with a weighting factor of 0.9, a pure uniform radially polarized beam with a weighting factor of 0.1, and an azimuthally adjustable angular selector.

Fig. 5. Manipulation of the polar angle of the overall polarization orientation by the combination of a pure uniform radially polarized beam and a pure uniform linearly polarized beam. With different weighting factors and the angular selector parameters of ζ=2π and ε=0, the polar angle can be tuned arbitrarily.

Fig. 6. Curve between the polar angle of the overall polarization orientation and the weighting factor of the radially polarized beam.