Propagation dynamics of deformed 2D vortex Airy beams

Abstract

We numerically and experimentally investigate the propagation of deformed 2D vortex Airy beams. Our results show that, for different topological charges, two parabolic trajectories that can be controlled by changing the initial wing angle always dominate the beam propagations. In this case, the main lobes take different propagation distances to restore to the peak intensity. The profiles tend to evolve into 1D or 2D Airy-like patterns to various degrees in the same propagation distance. Furthermore, the whole profiles yield a small change in their acceleration direction, depending on the topological charge and the initial wing angle.

Three-Airy autofocusing beams*

“…In experiment, we employed a setup similar to those in our previous work [29][30][31] to generate a three-Airy autofocusing beam (i.e., via Fourier transforming a proper phase), as schematically shown in Fig. 1.…”

“…Recently, it was shown that the acceleration of 2D Airy beam changes with the angle between their two wings, [29][30][31] thus offering us an additional degree of freedom to control the AAF. Here, we propose a new kind of AAF beam via superposing three deformed 2D Airy beams with a triangle symmetry.…”