Reduced side-lobe Airy beams

The primary interest in the finite-energy Airy beam derives from the special properties possessed by the maximum intensity at its central lobe. However, the defining spatial dependence, the Airy function, is an oscillatory function that consists of decaying side lobes. For some applications these side lobes may create deleterious effects. Fortunately, a nonsymmetric apodization of the beam in Fourier space is shown to enhance the central lobe as the side lobes are reduced and clipped. The properties of the central lobe are unaffected over a large proportion of the propagation path.     

Relation between Airy beams and triple-cusp beams

Airy beams and triple-cusp beams are two kinds of accelerating beams. The propagation characteristics and internal topological structures of accelerating Airy beams are well understood because of the developed mathematical theory about Airy function. However, limited information is available about the optical characteristics of accelerating triple-cusp beams. In this work, the relationship between Airy beams and triple-cusp beams is examined theoretically and experimentally. Results reveal some important optical characteristics of triple-cusp beams based on the optical characteristics of Airy beams. These findings are expected to provide a foundation for future applications of triple-cusp beams.     

Product of three Airy beams

A two-dimensional field that is a product of three Airy beams is proposed and investigated. It is shown that the Fourier image of this field has a cubic phase and a radially symmetric intensity with a super-Gaussian decrease. Propagation of the product of three Airy beams in a Fresnel zone is investigated numerically.     

Ballistic dynamics of Airy beams

We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that optical Airy beams propagating in free space can perform ballistic dynamics akin to those of projectiles moving under the action of gravity. The parabolic trajectories of these beams as well as the motion of their center of gravity were observed in good agreement with theory. The possibility of circumventing an obstacle placed in the path of the Airy beam is discussed.     

Specular and vortical Airy beams

A new kind of truncated Airy beams is investigated and discussed. These beams are a superposition of shifted and truncated Airy functions and its specular counterparts, where zeroes or extremal points of the Airy function are chosen as a truncation point. The specular Airy beams are smooth at the truncation point and produce a diffraction pattern similar to Hermite-Gaussian modes. Under propagation in Fresnel zone, specular Airy beams demonstrate a symmetrical acceleration in opposite sides and the beam divergence is proportional to the traveled distance squared. The astigmatic mode converter transforms a two-dimensional specular Airy beam into a quasi-annular field with a nonzero orbital angular momentum. Vortical Airy beams based on truncated Airy functions are also discussed. These beams are similar to Laguerre-Gaussian modes, while their annular structure is changed during propagation.     

Observation of accelerating Airy beams

We report the first observation of Airy optical beams. This intriguing class of wave packets, initially predicted by Berry and Balazs in 1979, has been realized in both one- and two-dimensional configurations. As demonstrated in our experiments, these Airy beams can exhibit unusual features such as the ability to remain diffraction-free over long distances while they tend to freely accelerate during propagation.     

Evolution of Airy beams in a chiral medium

We study the evolution of Airy beams in chiral media. We numerically demonstrate that the circularly polarized Airy beams of opposite handedness can be separated when traveling through the chiral media. The constructive interference of the Airy beams in the near- and far-zone is explicitly analyzed by varying the chirality parameter of the medium. It is interesting to find that the self-acceleration of the beam is sensitive to the interference term.     

Accelerating finite energy Airy beams

We investigate the acceleration dynamics of quasi-diffraction-free Airy beams in both one- and two-dimensional configurations. We show that this class of finite energy waves can retain their intensity features over several diffraction lengths. The possibility of other physical realizations involving spatiotemporal Airy wave packets is also considered.     

Airy beam laser

A method to design lasers that emit an arbitrary beam profile is studied. In these lasers, output-coupling is performed by a diffraction grating that imposes a phase and amplitude distribution onto the diffracted light. A solid-state laser emitting beams with a two-dimensional Airy intensity profile is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. In this case, the diffraction grating adds a transverse cubic phase to the diffracted light. An Airy beam is obtained by performing optical Fourier transform of the out-coupled light. The laser beam profile and power characteristics are shown to agree with theory.     

Propagation of Airy beams through a hard-edged aperture

Based on the fact that a hard-edged aperture function can be expanded into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions, we obtain the analytical formula for the propagation of the Airy beams in free space and through the fractional Fourier transformation (FrFT) system. According to the derived formulas, the propagation properties of the Airy beams in free space and through the FrFT plane with a hard-edged aperture are illustrated numerically.     

The Gouy phase of Airy beams

The phase behavior of Airy beams is studied, and their Gouy phase is defined. Analytic expressions for the idealized, infinite-energy type beam are derived. They are shown to be excellent approximations for finite-energy beams generated under typical experimental conditions.     

Airy beams beyond the paraxial approximation

The behavior of the vectorial Airy beams beyond the paraxial approximation is investigated. Indeed, closed-form (even though non exact) expressions for the electric components of the fields generated by the same boundary conditions, which should pertain to the scalar Airy beams, are obtained on the basis of the vectorial Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction integrals under suitable approximations. Such expressions may accompany more complete approaches, like that in Opt. Expr. 17, 22432 (2009), where a fully numerical analysis of the propagation of exponentially smoothed Airy beams has been presented, faithfully reproducing the conditions of their experimental demonstration as reported in Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 213907 (2007). Comments on other well known approaches to the investigation of the nonparaxial propagation of definite paraxial beams are also given.     

Fractional Fourier transform of Airy beams

An analytical expression of an Airy beam passing through a fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) system is presented. The effective beam size of the Airy beam in the FRFT plane is also derived. The influences of the order of FRFT, the modulation parameter, and the transverse scale on the normalized intensity distribution and the effective beam size of an Airy beam in the FRFT plane are examined. The order of FRFT controls the effective beam size and the orientation of the beam spot. The modulation parameter affects the effective beam size and the number of lateral side lobes. The normalized intensity distribution and the effective beam size are both proportional to the transverse scale.     

Generating self-accelerating Airy beams using a digital micromirror device

We report a new approach for generating an Airy beam by using a digital micromirror device (DMD) and a holographic technique where the DMD loads the desired hologram. Unique characteristics of an Airy beam, such as the non-diffraction and self-acceleration properties, were demonstrated to prove the successful construction of this type of waveform. Experimental results showed good agreement with theoretical calculations. This approach can also be used to generate other special beams.     

Propagation of Airy beams from right-handed material to left-handed material

Based on the ABCD matrix formalism,the propagation property of an Airy beam from right-handed material(RHM) to left-handed material(LHM) is investigated.The result shows that when the Airy beam propagates in the LHM,the intensity self-bending due to its propagation in the RHM can be compensated.In particular,if the propagation distance in the RHM is equal to that in the LHM and the refractive index of the LHM is n L =-1,the transverse intensity distribution of the Airy beam can return to its original state.     

Plasmonic Airy beams with dynamically controlled trajectories

We report the experimental generation and dynamic trajectory control of plasmonic Airy beams (PABs). The PABs are created by directly coupling free-space Airy beams to surface plasmon polaritons through a grating coupler on a metal surface. We show that the ballistic motion of the PABs can be reconfigured in real time by either a computer addressed spatial light modulator or mechanical means.     

Airy光束在Kerr介质中的传输特性

通过对非线性薛定谔方程的研究,得出Airy光束在Kerr介质中的崩塌功率及有效束宽演化的解析表达式。经过数值计算发现,Airy光束在聚焦的Kerr介质中,其主瓣在开始传播时始终是会聚的;当输入功率小于临界崩塌功率时,Airy光束主瓣的中心部分出现局部崩塌。在不同的Kerr介质中, Airy光束的形状和传输轨道均能保持不变,如同在自由空间中传播,但光场大小的分布,随着不同的Kerr介质会发生改变:在Kerr的聚焦介质中,光场向中心聚焦;而在散焦的Kerr介质中,光场会发散。     

Airy光束在Kerr介质中的传输特性

通过对非线性薛定谔方程的研究,得出Airy光束在Kerr介质中的崩塌功率及有效束宽演化的解析表达式。经过数值计算发现,Airy光束在聚焦的Kerr介质中,其主瓣在开始传播时始终是会聚的;当输入功率小于临界崩塌功率时,Airy光束主瓣的中心部分出现局部崩塌。在不同的Kerr介质中, Airy光束的形状和传输轨道均能保持不变,如同在自由空间中传播,但光场大小的分布,随着不同的Kerr介质会发生改变:在Kerr的聚焦介质中,光场向中心聚焦;而在散焦的Kerr介质中,光场会发散。     

Injection locking properties of a microchip laser

An injected microchip laser is theoretically studied, with the use of two models: in the first model, which is traditional, the field is represented by a single frequency component in the slowly-varying envelope approximation. In the second model, referred to as the Fabry-Perot model, two field components are considered which are respectively centered around the frequency of an eigenmode of the injected laser and the frequency of the injected field. Computation of locking ranges, bistability do mains are performed and the results compared. They show not only an improved precision of the second model but also a necessity to use it to describe some effects such as the bistable domains in the limits of the locking domains. Received: 1st April 1998 / Accepted: 21 August 1998     

Parametric resonance in a modulated microchip multimode laser

A nonlinear response of a laser-diode-pumped microchip LiNdP(4)O(12) (LNP) multimode laser that is subjected to multiple-frequency modulations is investigated. Clustering and breathing motions featuring intermode parametric resonances are demonstrated when the LNP laser was modulated by rational frequencies chosen to be nearly resonant to multiple relaxation-oscillation frequencies inherent in multimode lasers. A simple correspondence between the modulation signal patterns and the total-output power-spectrum patterns is demonstrated.