Diffraction-free, self-reconstructing Bessel beam generation using thermal nonlinear optical effect

Abstract

We propose a method to generate a Bessel beam using cross-phase modulation based on the thermal nonlinear optical effect. The thermal nonlinear medium is shown to have the ability to vary a Gaussian beam (probe beam) into a hollow beam when the medium is illuminated with a counter-propagating Gaussian beam (pump beam). It is demonstrated that this method has no restriction to the probe beam wavelength. Moreover, the generated Bessel beam exhibits superior non-diffraction properties during propagation and self-healing after encountering an obstruction on the beam path. The parameters of the beam can be easily adjusted by both the pump beam power and the sample concentration. The merits of variable parameters, no requirement for input beam wavelengths, simple setup, and low-cost would make this method significant in a variety of applications, especially in those areas where the parameters of the Bessel beam need to be easily adjusted without changing the setup.