%0 Journal Article %T Experimental analysis of submicrometer optical intensity distributions after an opaque disk %+ Université de Rennes (UR) %+ Institut de Physique de Rennes (IPR) %A Emile, O. %A Emile, Janine %Z The authors thank Renaud MATHEVET(LNCMI, University of Toulouse) and Pierre CHAVEL (InstitutCharles FABRY, University of Paris XI Orsay) for fruitful preliminarydiscussions, and Hervé TABUTEAU (IPR, University ofRennes 1) for valuable remarks and suggestions. The laser wasfunded by the Contrat Plan Etat Région CPER BUFFON %< avec comité de lecture %@ 1559-128X %J Applied optics %I Optical Society of America %V 59 %N 6 %P 1678-1683 %8 2020-02-20 %D 2020 %R 10.1364/AO.387699 %M 32225673 %K Submicrometers %K Molecular physics %K Optics %K Atom lithography %K Experimental analysis %K Forbidden transitions %K Optical intensities %K Orbital angular momentum %K Size variation %K Sub-wavelength %Z Physics [physics]Journal articles %X Generation of subwavelength beam sizes is a fascinating challenge with several implications. The observation of a 120 nm laser spot in the visible part of the spectrum is reported here. It has a size variation of less than 10% in a distance of 50 µm along the axis of propagation. This so-called Arago spot results from the diffraction of the light from a laser diode by the edges of an absorbing disk. Applications are discussed and hollow beams carrying orbital angular momentum with a 400 nm diameter dark spot in the center are evidenced. This paves the way toward atom lithography via atom guiding or new spectroscopy on forbidden transitions. © 2020 Optical Society of America. %G English %2 https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-02535642/document %2 https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-02535642/file/EMILE-2020-Experimental%20analysis%20of%20sub-micrometer%20optical.pdf %L hal-02535642 %U https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-02535642 %~ UNIV-RENNES1 %~ CNRS %~ OSUR %~ IPR %~ IPR-MN %~ STATS-UR1 %~ UR1-SPM %~ UR1-UFR-SPM %~ UR1-HAL %~ UR1-SDLM %~ TEST-UR-CSS %~ UNIV-RENNES %~ UR1-MMS %~ TEST3-HALCNRS