Spiral autofocusing Airy beams carrying power-exponent-phase vortices.

We propose a new type of noncanonical optical vortex, named "power-exponent-phase vortex (PEPV)". The spiral focusing of the autofocusing Airy beams carrying PEPVs are experimentally demonstrated, and the physical mechanism is theoretically analyzed by using the energy flow and far field mapping. In addition, the influences of the parameters of PEPVs on the focal fields and orbital angular momenta are also discussed. It is expected that the proposed PEPVs and the corresponding conclusions can be useful for the extension applications of optical vortices, especially for particle trapping and rotating.

[1]  David G Grier,et al.  Modulated optical vortices. , 2003, Optics letters.

[2]  Stelios Tzortzakis,et al.  Observation of abruptly autofocusing waves. , 2011, Optics letters.

[3]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Generation and motion control of optical multi-vortex , 2009 .

[4]  Jeffrey A. Davis,et al.  Abruptly autofocusing vortex beams. , 2012, Optics express.

[5]  M J Padgett,et al.  Intrinsic and extrinsic nature of the orbital angular momentum of a light beam. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[6]  S. Barnett,et al.  Free-space information transfer using light beams carrying orbital angular momentum. , 2004, Optics express.

[7]  J. Torres,et al.  Helico-conical optical beams self-heal. , 2012, Optics letters.

[8]  H. Niu,et al.  Fractional optical vortex beam induced rotation of particles. , 2005, Optics express.

[9]  A. Couairon,et al.  Sharply autofocused ring-Airy beams transforming into non-linear intense light bullets , 2013, Nature Communications.

[10]  David G Grier,et al.  Structure of optical vortices. , 2003, Physical review letters.

[11]  L. Torner,et al.  Propagation and control of noncanonical optical vortices. , 2001, Optics letters.

[12]  Ioannis Chremmos,et al.  Pre-engineered abruptly autofocusing beams. , 2011, Optics letters.

[13]  Demetrios N. Christodoulides,et al.  Abruptly autofocusing waves , 2010, CLEO: 2011 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.

[14]  H. Lee,et al.  Propagation dynamics of optical vortices with anisotropic phase profiles , 2003 .

[15]  D. Christodoulides,et al.  Self-healing properties of optical Airy beams. , 2008, Optics express.

[16]  J. P. Woerdman,et al.  Orbital angular momentum of light and the transformation of Laguerre-Gaussian laser modes. , 1992, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[17]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Abrupt polarization transition of vector autofocusing Airy beams. , 2013, Optics letters.

[18]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Observation of abrupt polarization transitions associated with spin-orbit interaction of vector autofocusing Airy beams , 2013 .

[19]  Robert R. Alfano,et al.  The Poynting vector and angular momentum of Airy beams. , 2008 .

[20]  Peng Zhang,et al.  Trapping and guiding microparticles with morphing autofocusing Airy beams. , 2011, Optics letters.

[21]  N. Hermosa,et al.  Intensity profiles and propagation of optical beams with bored helical phase. , 2009, Optics express.

[22]  N. Hermosa,et al.  Phase structure of helico-conical optical beams , 2007 .

[23]  J. Glückstad,et al.  Helico-conical optical beams: a product of helical and conical phase fronts. , 2005, Optics express.

[24]  Jianping Yin,et al.  Generation of a vectorial Mathieu-like hollow beam with a periodically rotated polarization property. , 2011, Optics letters.

[25]  Xuanhui Lu,et al.  Propagation dynamics of abruptly autofocusing Airy beams with optical vortices. , 2012, Optics express.

[26]  Jianlin Zhao,et al.  Controlling the polarization singularities of the focused azimuthally polarized beams. , 2013, Optics express.

[27]  Miles J Padgett,et al.  Light beams with fractional orbital angular momentum and their vortex structure. , 2008, Optics express.

[28]  K. T. Gahagan,et al.  Optical vortex trapping of particles , 1996, Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics.

[29]  Miles J. Padgett,et al.  Tweezers with a twist , 2011 .

[30]  He,et al.  Direct observation of transfer of angular momentum to absorptive particles from a laser beam with a phase singularity. , 1995, Physical review letters.

[31]  Peng Zhang,et al.  Fourier-space generation of abruptly autofocusing beams and optical bottle beams. , 2011, Optics letters.

[32]  Xuanhui Lu,et al.  Radiation force of abruptly autofocusing Airy beams on a Rayleigh particle. , 2013, Optics express.