Nondiffracting Beams With Finite Beam Width

Abstract

Since Durnin reported the first experiment of Bessel beams, the related researchwork has developed extensively because of their property andinteresting potential applications. It was shown that nearly nondiffracting Besselbeams can be realized experimentally by using various methods, such as an annularslit system, holographic amplification, an F-P interferometer, axicon and refractingsystem. This note presents the investigation results of the authors on nondiffractingBessel beams with finite beam width, i.e. beams limited by an aperture. Experimentshave been performed to illustrate the advantages of generating Bessel beams with anaxicon. A detailed study of the axial intensity and maximum nondiffracting range ofBessel beams vs. aperture size, and the conversion efficiency of the axicon as a Besselbeam convertor has been given. Within the experimental errors the result are ingood agreement with the theory.