Airy beam propagation: autofocusing, quasi-adiffractional propagation, and self-healing

J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2021 May 1;38(5):711-718. doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.418533.

Abstract

We study the propagation of superpositions of Airy beams and show that, by adequately choosing the parameters in the superposition, effects as opposite as autofocusing and quasi-adiffractional propagation may be obtained. We also give a simple analytical expression for free propagation of any initial field, based on so-called number states (eigenstates of the quantum harmonic oscillator), that allows us to study their self-healing properties.