Focal shifting of transversely polarized beam using cosine phase plate

Focal shift of transversely polarized beams induced by cosine phase masks are investigated theoretically by vector diffraction theory. Results show that when the transversely polarized beam with radial cosine wavefront phase is focused, the focal pattern differs considerably with frequency parameter in the cosine function term. Increasing the value of frequency parameter in the cosine part of the phase mask, focal shift may occur, simultaneously, the focal shift direction may change. Moreover, by altering frequency parameter or phase variation parameter of the phase mask will change the energy distributions of maximum intensity peak and other small intensity peaks. And novel focal patterns also evolve considerably, such as from only one peak to five of multiple peaks. The tunable focal shift can be used to construct controllable optical tweezers. (C) 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.