3D structured Bessel beam polarization and its application to imprint chiral optical properties in silica

Polarization plays a crucial role in light-matter interactions; hence its overall manipulation is an essential key to unlock the versatility of light manufacturing, especially in femtosecond laser direct writing. Existing polarization-shaping techniques, however, only focus on their manipulation in the transverse plane of light beams, i.e., two-dimensional control. In this paper, we propose a novel passive strategy that exploits a class of femtosecond laser written space varying birefringent elements to shape the polarization state along the optical path. As a demonstration, we generate a three-dimensional structured Bessel beam whose linear polarization state slowly evolves along the focus (typ. 90 degrees within 60 lambda). Such a "helically polarized" Bessel beam allows imprinting "twisted nanogratings" in SiO2 glass which result in an extrinsic optical chirality at a micrometric scale and own a high optical rotation. Our work provides new perspectives for three-dimensional polarization manipulation and insights into applications in structured light, light-matter interaction, and chiral device fabrication. (c) 2023 Author(s).