Spatiotemporal diffraction-free pulsed beams in free-space of the Airy and Bessel type.

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of spatiotemporal optical waves with one transverse dimension obtained as the intersections of the dispersion cone with a plane. We show that, by appropriate spectral excitations, the three different types of conic sections (elliptic, parabolic, and hyperbolic) can lead to optical waves of the Bessel, Airy, and modified Bessel types, respectively. We find closed form solutions that accurately describe the wave dynamics and unveil their fundamental properties.