Experimental investigation on partially coherent higher-order non-diffractive beams

We experimentally study the generation of a partially coherent non-diffractive beam by focusing a partially coherent vortex beam with an axicon. The investigation results show that when the partially coherent vortex beam is focused by the axicon, the beam is transferred into a partially coherent higher-order non-diffractive beam. In the non-diffractive zone, the transverse intensity distribution of the partially coherent higher-order non-diffractive beam is invariant during propagation. In addition, the range of the non-diffractive zone is related to the coherence of the partially coherent vortex beam. The poorer the coherence of the partially coherent vortex beam, the shorter the range of the non-diffractive zone.     

Tight focusing of femtosecond elliptically polarised vortex light pulses

This paper studies the tight focusing properties of femtosecond elliptically polarised vortex light pulses. Based on Richards--Wolf vectorial diffraction integral, the expressions for the electric field, the velocity of the femtosecond light pulse and the total angular momentum of focused pluses are derived. The numerical calculations are also given to illustrate the intensity distribution, phase contour, the group velocity variation and the total angular momentum near the focus. It finds that near the focus the femtosecond elliptically polarised vortex light pulse can travel at various group speeds, that is, slower or faster than light speed in vacuum, depending on the numerical aperture of the focusing objective system. Moreover, it also studies the influence of the numerical aperture of the focusing objective and the time duration of the elliptically polarised vortex light pulse on the total angular momentum distribution in the focused field.