Structure of a nonparaxial gaussian beam near the focus: III. Stability,eigenmodes, and vortices

Exact analytical structurally stable solutions of the Maxwell equations for singular mode beams propagating in free space or a uniform isotropic medium are obtained. Approximate boundary conditions are chosen in the form of the requirement that in the paraxial approximation the fields of nonparaxial mode beams in the waist plane are transformed into the fields of eigenmodes and vortices of weakly guiding optical fibers with the axial symmetry of refractive index. It is shown that optical vortices, in spite of a rather complex structure of field distribution, do not experience substantial changes in the beam form and reproduce, in general features, the field of paraxial vortices. Linear perturbations of the characteristic parameters of mode beams do not change the structure of their electromagnetic field. Nonparaxial singular beams have one more important property, in addition to the fact that the structure of these beams in the paraxial approximation is similar to the structure of the fields of eigenmodes in a fiber. The propagation constants of eigenmodes of a fiber exactly coincide (in the first approximation of perturbation theory) with the projection of the wave vector of a mode beam on the optical axis (an analog of the propagation constant). The possibility of the paraxial transition for nonparaxial mode beams with arbitrary values of azimuthal and radial indices is shown. The properties of nonparaxial modes are illustrated by numerous examples. The solutions obtained and the results of their analysis can be used for exact matching optical fibers and laser beams in various applications.     

Dynamics of topological multipoles: II. Creation, annihilation, and evolution of nonparaxial optical vortices

The behavior of nonparaxial combined beams transferring two or four optical vortices with opposite topological charges (topological dipole or quadrupole) is studied. The paraxial and nonparaxial approaches are compared. It is shown that the behavior of a topologically neutral wave system is well characterized by the position of a representative point on the parametric plane. It is found that there exists a large region on this plane for which spatial trajectories of the optical vortices, both for dipoles and quadrupoles, do not intersect the focal plane, i.e., the vortices cannot exist within the forbidden zone. At the edges of the forbidden zone, the vortices are either created or annihilated. In contrast, there exists a region on the parametric plane for which the optical vortices can exist only near the waist plane.     

Dynamics of topological multipoles: I. High-order nonparaxial singular beams

Approximate boundary conditions for matching the high-order nonparaxial and paraxial singular beams propagating through free space or through a homogeneous isotropic medium are formulated. It is found that the nonparaxial and paraxial beams have almost the same structure both in the vicinity of the focal caustic and away from it. In the intermediate zone, the beam profiles are distorted, and a phase mismatch arises and increases with increasing mode order. The combined nonparaxial singular beams are devised, and their dynamics is studied. It is shown that the problem of matching the paraxial and nonparaxial wave functions may be reformulated as a problem of the phase matching for nonparaxial wave function. Such a problem is similar to the mode-dispersion problem and is unsolvable in terms of a linear problem for the entire optical axis. Thus, it makes sense to discuss either the precise matching of the paraxial and nonparaxial beams within small spatial zones or an approximate matching away from the focal plane but at long distances along the optical axis.     

Stability of weakly nonparaxial spatial optical solitons in a medium with a Kerr nonlinearity

A variant of perturbation theory is developed to determine the characteristics and stability of transversely two-dimensional spatial solitons in a Kerr medium under conditions of small deviations from paraxial. Distributions of the transverse and longitudinal components of the soliton electric and magnetic fields are obtained. It is shown that the power of a nonparaxial soliton in a Kerr medium increases as the propagation constant increases. A linear analysis is made of soliton stability. In addition to confirming stability, this analysis revealed “internal modes” of nonparaxial solitons and their characteristics were determined.     

Structural stability of a nonparaxial singular mode beam

The exact explicit solution of the Maxwell equations for nonparaxial singular beams propagating in free space or in a homogeneous isotropic medium is considered. It is shown that, in the paraxial approximation, such solutions for mode beams of both lower and higher orders may turn into the solutions for guided modes or vortices of optical fibers. It is found that a variation of the Rayleigh length for a mode beam does not change the structure of phase and polarization singularities; it merely transforms their coordinates. In the paraxial limit, the singularities are shifted off the axis to regions with negligible light fluxes.     

Calculation of radiation acoustical fields from phased arrays with nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam model

A nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam model based on the rectangular aperture is proposed in order to overcome the limitation of paraxial Gaussian beam model which losing accuracy in off-axis beam fields. With the method, acoustical field generated by an ultrasonic linear phased array transducer is calculated and compared with the corresponding field obtained by Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral, paraxial multi-Gaussian beam model, and Fraunhoffer approximation method. Simulation examples show that nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam model is not limited by the paraxial approximation condition and can predict efficiently and accurately the acoustical field radiated by a linear phased array transducer over a wide range of steering angles.     

Nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam models and measurement models for phased array transducers

A nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam model is proposed in order to overcome the limitation that paraxial Gaussian beam models lose accuracy in simulating the beam steering behavior of phased array transducers. Using this nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam model, the focusing and steering sound fields generated by an ultrasonic linear phased array transducer are calculated and compared with the corresponding results obtained by paraxial multi-Gaussian beam model and more exact Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral model. In addition, with help of this novel nonparaxial method, an ultrasonic measurement model is provided to investigate the sensitivity of linear phased array transducers versus steering angles. Also the comparisons of model predictions with experimental results are presented to certify the accuracy of this provided measurement model.     

Virtual source for a Hermite-Gauss beam

A virtual source that generates a Hermite-Gauss wave of mode numbers m and n is introduced. An expression is obtained for this Hermite-Gauss wave. From this expression, the paraxial approximation and the first 3 orders of nonparaxial corrections for the corresponding paraxial Hermite-Gauss beam are determined. When both m and n are even, leading to maximum amplitude along the axis, the number of orders of nonvanishing nonparaxial corrections is found to be equal to (m + n)/2.     

矢量非傍轴离轴高斯光束的传输

基于矢量瑞利-索末菲衍射积分公式，得出了波动方程的一个解，它代表矢量非傍轴离轴高斯光束，其在自由空间的传输方程表示为解析的结果.矢量非傍轴离轴高斯光束的轴上和远场公式，矢量非傍轴高斯光束的传输方程，以及傍轴的结果都可作为一般表达式的特例而得出.研究表明，f参数对光束的非傍轴特性有重要影响，而离心参数也影响非傍轴行为.与共轴情况不同的是，对离轴情况，在y方向存在场的纵向分量. 关键词： 激光光学 矢量非傍轴离轴高斯光束 瑞利-索末菲衍射积分 f参数 离轴参数     

Angular spectrum of quantized light beams

We introduce a generalized angular spectrum representation for quantized light beams. By using our formalism, we are able to derive simple expressions for the electromagnetic vector potential operator in the case of (a) time-independent paraxial fields, (b) time-dependent paraxial fields, and (c) nonparaxial fields. For the first case the well-known paraxial results are fully recovered.     

Exact nonparaxial beams of the scalar Helmholtz equation

It is shown that three-dimensional nonparaxial beams are described by the oblate spheroidal exact solutions of the Helmholtz equation. For what is believed to be the first time, their beam behavior is investigated and their corresponding parameters are defined. Using the fact that the beam width of the family of paraxial Gaussian beams is described by a hyperbola, we formally establish the connection between the physical parameters of nonparaxial spheroidal beam solutions and those of paraxial beams. These results are also helpful for investigating exact vector nonparaxial beams.     

非傍轴高斯光束传输方程解的探讨

由洛伦兹规范下光场满足的矢势和标势方程出发, 探讨了初始光场具有任意对称性的一般非傍轴光束在空间的传输情况。利用角频谱并结合傅里叶变换处理得到了非傍轴光束的传输方程。利用扰动方法并结合新近似取法得到了非傍轴横向光场的扰动形式解, 该解对于近场弱非傍轴情况下的效果比强非傍轴条件下要好。给出了光束非傍轴传输高阶(八阶)修正解。对于零阶情况, 非傍轴光束退化为傍轴光束, 传输方程也相应退化为傍轴传输的模型方程。高斯解为扰动参量的零阶修正解。     

Nonparaxial elegant Laguerre-Gaussian beams

Closed-form nonparaxial expressions for optical beams are useful to calculate the fields produced by tightly focused laser beams. Such expressions for elegant Laguerre-Gaussian (eLG) beams that are exact solutions of the Helmholtz equation are introduced. These solutions are expressed as linear combinations of a finite number of analytic functions that involve spherical Bessel functions and associated Legendre functions of complex arguments. In the paraxial limit, the expressions proposed have the property to reduce to the well-known eLG beams.     

Spherical aberration from trajectories in real and hard-edge solenoid fields

For analytical, real and hard-edge solenoidal axial magnetic fields, the low-energy electron trajectories are obtained using the third-order paraxial ray equation. Using the particle trajectories, it is shown that the spherical aberration in the hard-edge model is high and it increases monotonously with hard edginess, although the focal length converges, in agreement with a recent field and spherical aberration model. The model paved the way for a hard-edge approximation that gives correct focal length and spherical aberration, which is verified here by the trajectory method. In essence, we show that exact hard-edge fields give infinite spherical aberrations.     

Phase-flipped Hermite-Gaussian beams and their propagation beyond the paraxial approximation

An extension of phase-flipped Gaussian (PFG) beams to the multi-mode nonparaxial case is made. The recurrence propagation expressions for phase-flipped Hermite-Gaussian (PFHG) beams beyond the paraxial approximation are derived and used to study nonparaxial propagation properties of PFHG beams in free space and through a knife edge and an aperture, and to compare nonparaxial results with paraxial ones. The propagation of paraxial PFHG beams and PFG beams and nonparaxial PFG beams is treated as special cases of nonparaxial PFHG beams. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.     

Polarization properties of nonparaxial partially polarized Gaussian Schell-model beams

The polarization properties of nonparaxial partially polarized Gaussian Schell-model (PGSM) beams are studied. Based on the beam coherence-polarization matrix, the propagation formula of the degree of polarization for the nonparaxial PGSM beams is derived. The paraxial approximation is dealt with as special cases of our general results. Some conditions that limit the choice of the parameters are established. The sufficiency condition of polarization invariance in propagation for the nonparaxial PGSM beams is derived. By using the derived formulae, the propagation properties of the degree of polarization for the nonparaxial PGSM beam in free space are illustrated and analyzed with numerical examples. Some detailed comparisons of the obtained results with the paraxial results are made.     

Polarization and intensity properties of converging J0-correlated Schell-model beams

Based on the cross-spectral density matrix, closed form result for propagation equation of electromagnetic J₀-correlated Schell-model beams (EJSMBs) through a paraxial optical system is obtained and the focusing properties are studied. Both numerical calculation and physical interpretation are obtained. It is found that a tunable dark hollow area, which has potential applications in optical trapping, can be obtained by altering the coherence parameter and the focal length. It is also shown that even though the original field is unpolarized, the beams can become fully polarized in the focal region with its width being tunable by changing the coherence parameter. The relevance of this work to applications such as coherent detection in optical communication is also discussed.     

Propagation properties of electromagnetic fields in elliptic dielectric hollow fibres and their applications

We numerically calculate and analyse the electromagnetic fields, optical intensity distributions, polarization states and orbital angular momentum of some elliptic hollow modes in an elliptic dielectric hollow fiber (EDHF) by using Mathieu functions, and also calculate the optical potential of the blue-detuned _eHE₁₁ mode evanescent-light wave for ⁸⁵Rb atoms, including the position-dependent van der Waals potential, and discuss briefly some potential applications of our EDHF in atom and molecule optics, etc. Our study shows that the vector electric field distributions of the odd modes in the cross section of the EDHF are the same as that of the even modes and with different boundary ellipses by rotating an angle of π/2, and the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of single HE (EH) mode is exactly equal to zero, while that of dual-mode in the EDHF is fractional in h, and has a sinusoidal oscillation as z varies. The EDHF can be used to produce various elliptic hollow beams, even to generate and study various atomic vortices with a fractional charge and its fractional quantum Hall effect in atomic Bose--Einstein condensate, and so on.     

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.     

Vortex and anti-vortex compositions of exact elegant Laguerre–Gaussian vector beams

Reformulation of conventional beam definitions into their bidirectional versions and use of Hertz potentials make beam fields exact vector solutions to Maxwell’s equations. This procedure is applied to higher-order elegant Laguerre–Gaussian beams of transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarization. Their vortex and anti-vortex co-axial compositions of equal and opposite topological charges are given in a closed analytic form. Polarization components of the composed beams are specified by their radial and azimuthal indices. The longitudinal components are common for beam compositions of both types; meanwhile, their transverse components are different and comprise two—nonparaxial and paraxial—separate parts distinguished by a paraxial parameter and its inverse, respectively. The new solutions may appear useful in modeling and tailoring of arbitrary vector beams.