Superpositions of higher-order Bessel beams and nondiffracting speckle fields

Abstract

In this paper we present a mechanism for the generation of the superposition of higher-order Bessel beams, which implements a ring slit aperture and spatial light modulator (SLM). Our experimental technique is also adapted to generate nondiffracting speckle fields. We report on illuminating a ring slit aperture with light which has an azimuthal phase dependence, such that the field produced is a superposition of two higher-order Bessel beams. In the case that the phase dependence of the light illuminating the ring slit aperture is random, a nondiffracting speckle field is produced. The experimentally produced fields are in good agreement with those calculated theoretically.