The nucleophilic substitution reaction CN(-) + CH3I allows for two possible reactive approaches of the reactant ion onto the methyl halide, which lead to two different product isomers. Stationary point calculations predict a similar shape of the potential and a dominant collinear approach for both attacks. In addition, an H-bonded pre-reaction complex is identified as a possible intermediate structure. Submerged potential energy barriers hint at a statistical formation process of both CNCH3 and NCCH3 isomers at the experimental collision energies. Experimental angle- and energy differential cross sections show dominant direct rebound dynamics and high internal excitation of the neutral product. No distinct bimodal distributions can be extracted from the velocity images, which impedes the indication of a specific preference towards any of the product isomers. A forward scattering simulation based on the experimental parameters describes accurately the experimental outcome and shows how the possibility to discriminate between the two isomers is mainly hindered by the large product internal excitation.

We present a modified configuration of a tunable Alvarez lens with a refocusing frequency of 1 kHz or more. In contrast to the classic Alvarez lens, the approach does not utilize a translational motion of two sub-lenses with respect to each other, but uses a 4f-setup to image two diffractive sub-lenses onto each other. Hereby focus tuning is achieved by rotating a galvo-mirror which affects the overlap of the two sub-lenses which together form an effective lens of refractive power which depends on the rotation angle of the galvo-mirror. We have demonstrated tuning of the optical power in a system where the diffractive Alvarez lens is realized by an LCOS-SLM. We consider our Alvarez setup especially suitable for applications where high refocusing rates are important, as for example in 3D life cell monitoring or tracking.

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Modern liquid crystal spatial light modulators (SLMs) are capable of shifting the optical path length by some microns, which corresponds to phase shifts of several multiples of 2π. We use this capability to display freeform optical elements (FOEs) on a SLM, as largely smooth phase variations with only a small number of wrapping lines. These FOEs can be programmed to generate so-called caustic intensity distributions, which may be real images reconstructed at a selected position in front of the SLM surface. In contrast to standard diffractive structures, reconstruction of the freeform images is non-dispersive (i.e. white light images can be programmed), free of speckle, and its efficiency does not depend on the wavelength. These features promise novel applications in image projection, and various application fields of SLMs in microscopy.