Propagation and wavefront ambiguity of linear nondiffracting beams

R. Grunwald; M. Bock

doi:10.1117/12.2037045

25 February 2014 Propagation and wavefront ambiguity of linear nondiffracting beams

R. Grunwald, M. Bock

Proceedings Volume 8999, Complex Light and Optical Forces VIII; 89990G (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2037045
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2014, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Ultrashort-pulsed Bessel and Airy beams in free space are often interpreted as "linear light bullets". Usually, interconnected intensity profiles are considered a "propagation" along arbitrary pathways which can even follow curved trajectories. A more detailed analysis, however, shows that this picture gives an adequate description only in situations which do not require to consider the transport of optical signals or causality. To also cover these special cases, a generalization of the terms "beam" and "propagation" is necessary. The problem becomes clearer by representing the angular spectra of the propagating wave fields by rays or Poynting vectors. It is known that quasi-nondiffracting beams can be described as caustics of ray bundles. Their decomposition into Poynting vectors by Shack-Hartmann sensors indicates that, in the frame of their classical definition, the corresponding local wavefronts are ambiguous and concepts based on energy density are not appropriate to describe the propagation completely. For this reason, quantitative parameters like the beam propagation factor have to be treated with caution as well. For applications like communication or optical computing, alternative descriptions are required. A heuristic approach based on vector field based information transport and Fourier analysis is proposed here. Continuity and discontinuity of far field distributions in space and time are discussed. Quantum aspects of propagation are briefly addressed.

Citation Download Citation

R. Grunwald and M. Bock "Propagation and wavefront ambiguity of linear nondiffracting beams", Proc. SPIE 8999, Complex Light and Optical Forces VIII, 89990G (25 February 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2037045

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