Brewster reflection of a postparaxial optical beam at a plane dielectric interface unravels fundamentally significant optical singularity dynamics. We express the simulated field-component profiles of a Brewster-reflected postparaxial beam field via empirical functions, using which we demonstrate optical beam-shifts and formation of phase singularities. These occurrences naturally reveal the presence and complex transitional dynamics of generic polarization singularities, which we observe via simulation and experiments. A single reflection being the core process, our method becomes a fundamentally appealing way to generate optical singularities and to study their dynamics.

• Received 5 July 2020
• Revised 27 October 2020
• Accepted 21 December 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.103.013510