Propagation of an Airy vortex beam in uniaxial crystals

Abstract

The propagation dynamics of an Airy beam superimposed with a unit topological charge optical vortex is investigated analytically and numerically in uniaxial crystals orthogonal to the optical axis. Upon propagation, the Airy vortex beam is mainly dependent on the ratio of the extraordinary refractive index to the ordinary refractive index. Due to the anisotropic effect of the crystals, the acceleration of an Airy vortex beam in the transversal direction along the optical axis is more rapidly than that in the other transversal direction, which is alike to a conventional Airy beam but with twice the vortex acceleration velocity.