Formation of a microfiber bundle by interference of three noncoplanar beams

A systematic analysis of interference of three noncoplanar plane waves with identical frequency is provided. This analysis shows that a fiber bundle w ith spacing of the order of the wavelength, which one may conveniently cont rol by changing the recording geometry, can be formed by this means. The re lation between the incident light-wave vectors and the resultant pattern is analyzed. The concept of uniform contrast for an interference pattern is i ntroduced, and the polarization optimization approach for each beam that en sures maximum uniform contrast for each beam is also given. (C) 2001 Optica l Society of America.