Harnessing Laguerre-Gaussian Beams to Construct Quasi-Nondiffracting Optical Ring Lattices

Abstract

We construct a family of optical ring lattices that manifest the quasi-nondiffracting property via superposition of high-radial-order Laguerre-Gaussian beams. A theoretical derivation of the optical ring lattice along with the validity condition is presented, and its evolution behaviors are investigated in comparison with the diffraction-free Bessel beams. Moreover, multiple ultralong bright channels or optical tubes with various transverse profiles can be formed with the ring optical lattices. As a proof of concept, flexible generation of the lattice beams was demonstrated by complex wavefront engineering using a binary digital micromirror device. We anticipate that the quasi-nondiffracting ring lattices and the ultralong optical channels might motivate novel applications in optical trapping and high-resolution microscopy.

Keywords

• Holographic optical components
• optical diffraction
• optical vortices
• optical modulation