Customizing subwavelength stochastic light fields via structured spatial coherence in a high-NA resonator

Interaction of light in the high-numerical aperture (high-NA) systems is crucial for theoretical advances and applications such as superresolution imaging and optical nanofabrication. High coherence is demanded at this scale for intensity and spin profile sculpturing, since the underlying physics being wave interference. Here we report that, even for low-coherence light, 3D light features in a nanometer range can be generated by employing structured coherence states of the light beam in a high-NA resonator system. The generated structures, e.g., 3D helix intensity and transverse spin texture, can survive in rather incoherent optical fields at nanoscale. We also found that, counterintuitively, despite the substantial decrease in spatial coherence of the light field, the longitudinal electric field component and transverse spin density are instead enhanced. The applications of the observed twisted spectral density and spin structures may range from high-resolution imaging to metrology.