Optical Pin Beams: Research Progresses and Emerging Applications

TL;DR

Optical pin beams are a new class of structured light with exceptional stability and self-healing properties, promising significant advancements in free-space optical communication, sensing, and imaging technologies.

Contribution

This review comprehensively summarizes recent progress in the physical principles, generation methods, experimental realizations, and diverse applications of optical pin beams.

Findings

OPBs exhibit high resilience to atmospheric turbulence.

Experimental demonstrations show OPBs' effectiveness in optical communication and imaging.

Derivatives of OPBs enable flexible control over light properties.

Abstract

Optical pin beams (OPBs) represent a novel class of structured light fields engineered for resilient, long-distance propagation. Their exceptional stability and strong resistance to atmospheric turbulence make them a compelling alternative to conventional Gaussian and other structured beams for free-space optical systems. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the physical principles, generation strategies, experimental realizations, and emerging applications of OPBs. By precise spatial modulation of the optical wave vectors, OPBs achieve highly collimated, self-reconstructing propagation with distinctive pin-like features that confer remarkable robustness and self-healing capability. We further discuss several OPB derivatives--including vortex, inverted, and vortex-inverted OPBs--which expand the functional landscape by enabling flexible control over amplitude, phase, polarization, and orbital angular momentum. Experimentally, OPBs have demonstrated outstanding performance across diverse platforms, ranging from free-space and underwater optical communications to optical trapping and super-resolution imaging. With their unique combination of propagation stability, light-field tunability, and environmental adaptability, OPBs hold strong promise for next-generation optical communication, precision sensing, and advanced imaging technologies. This review summarizes recent research progresses in OPBs and highlights key opportunities and prospects for advancing their scientific discoveries and practical applications.