Independent amplitude and trajectory/beam-width control of nonparaxial beams

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to independently control the amplitude, trajectory, and beam width of nonparaxial optical beams by engineering their input phase and amplitude, with potential applications in precise beam manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to independently control amplitude and beam width of nonparaxial beams through input wave engineering, linking beam width to local curvature.

Findings

Theoretical control of beam amplitude and trajectory is validated by numerical simulations.

Beam width depends solely on the local curvature of the trajectory.

Potential experimental methods for generating such beams are discussed.

Abstract

We show that it is possible to generate non-paraxial optical beams with pre-engineered trajectories and designed maximum amplitude along these trajectories. The independent control of these two degrees of freedom is made possible by engineering both the amplitude and the phase of the optical wave on input plane. Furthermore, we come to the elegant conclusion that the beam width depends solely on the local curvature of the trajectory. Thus, we can generate beams with pre-defined amplitude and beam-width by appropriately selecting the local curvature. Our theoretical results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations. We discuss about methods that can be utilized to experimentally generate such beam. Our work might be useful in applications where precise beam control is important such as particle manipulation, filamentation, and micromachining.