Reverse propagation and negative angular momentum density flux of an optical nondiffracting nonparaxial fractional Bessel vortex beam of progressive waves.

Abstract

Energy and angular momentum flux density characteristics of an optical nondiffracting nonparaxial vector Bessel vortex beam of fractional order are examined based on the dual-field method for the generation of symmetric electric and magnetic fields. Should some conditions determined by the polarization state, the half-cone angle as well as the beam-order (or topological charge) be met, the axial energy and angular momentum flux densities vanish (representing Poynting singularities), before they become negative. These negative counterintuitive properties suggest retrograde (negative) propagation as well as a rotation reversal of the angular momentum with respect to the beam handedness. These characteristics of nondiffracting nonparaxial Bessel fractional vortex beams of progressive waves open new capabilities in optical tractor beam tweezers, optical spanners, invisibility cloaks, optically engineered metamaterials, and other applications.