Theoretical and experimental study on self-accelerating Bessel-like Hermite-Gaussian beams

Abstract

Phase modulation is an important method of designing accelerating optical beams. In this paper, we present new self-accelerating non-diffracting Bessel-like Hermite-Gaussian beams based on our previous research on Bessel-like beams. The evolutions of the beams along different trajectories are studied numerically and experimentally. These beams are designed by modulating the phase of the initial Hermite-Gaussian beams. With the split-step beam propagation method, we show numerically that (0,1), (1,0), (1,1) and (1,2) modes of the Bessel-like Hermite-Gaussian beams can propagate along different predesigned trajectories. With the computer-generated hologram and spatial light modulator, we observe the propagating behaviors of the Bessel-like Hermite-Gaussian beams along different trajectories, including parabolic, hyperbolic, hyperbolic secant and 3D trajectories. Experimental results show good agreement with the theoretical prediction. It is also demonstrated that the peculiar profile of Bessel-like Hermite-Gaussian beams exhibits nondiffracting and self-healing properties propagating along the tunable trajectories. These beams generalize the concept of Bessel-like beams, suggesting that more exotic optical beams can be obtained.