Vortex bifocusing of extreme ultraviolet using modified Fermat-spiral photon-sieve splitter

Abstract

Structured beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) provide powerful capabilities for applications in optical tweezers, super-resolution imaging, quantum optics, and ad-vanced microparticle manipulation. However, it is challenging for generate and control the OAM beams at the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) region due to the lack of suitable wave front shaping optics arise from being limited to the strong absorption of most materials. Here, we use a modified Fermat-spiral photon-sieve splitter to simultaneously generate two focused doughnut beams with opposite helical phase. Our technique enables us to produce splitting focused vortex beams with different rotation directions at EUV wavelengths. Additionally, we provide experimental evidence showcasing the capabilities of our method and further detect the helical phase by self-reference interferometry. This work not only opens a route for OAM-driven applications in EUV radiation, but also paves the way to studies of holographic technique by EUV splitter.