Few-cycle radially polarized pulses generation

Vector beams have broad applications and extending them to the few-cycle regime will influence many fields. We experimentally demonstrated the compression of a radially polarized vector beam in the same way that we compress Gaussian beams using a gas filled hollow-core fiber. The pulses maintain their radially polarized nature. It is feasible, using only well-developed methods, to reach focused intensities of \textasciitilde 10$^{\mathrm{19}}$ W/cm$^{\mathrm{2}}$ where the field strength in all three dimensions reach relativistic intensities. Using solid or gas as a nonlinear medium, it will be possible to produce radially polarized harmonics with a curved wavefront that will reach wavelength scale focal spots compared to Gaussian beams, thus opening a route towards VUV microscopy.