Focus shaping by tailoring arbitrary hybrid polarization states that have a combination of orthogonal linear polarization bases.

We report a focus shaping method by tailoring hybrid states of polarization of arbitrary polarized beams that have a combination of orthogonal linear polarization bases. Such hybridly polarized beams comprising linear, elliptical, and circular polarizations in the beam cross section, have completely different optical properties compared to the scalar and locally linear-polarized vector beams. We demonstrate that, apart from the orientation of the local polarization state, another two degrees of freedom including the local ellipticity and the handedness in the beam cross section can be used in focus shaping. Square-shaped patterns, multiple foci, three-dimensional optical cages, optical needles, and channels can be obtained due to the increased control without any additional phase or amplitude modulations. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America