Bessel-like light beams formed by the two-component scheme consisting of an axicon and a spherical lens

Abstract

The combination in an optical scheme of rather different elements such as axicons and spherical lenses allows forming light fields that differ by a variety of properties. The simplest example of such a scheme consists of an axicon and a spherical lens spatially separated from it. Though this scheme was investigated earlier, the region of so-called secondary focusing located behind the well-known annular focus has not been studied yet. In this paper, the analytical and numerical analysis of a light field in the region of secondary focusing is conducted. The boundaries of this region are determined, and the longitudinal and transverse distribution of the light intensity is calculated. It is shown that the near field region of secondary focusing is formed in the regime of abrupt autofocusing of the annular field. It is established that in a general case the transverse intensity distribution in the far field region is a superposition of an annular field and an oscillating axialtype field. The distance between the axicon and the lens is determined when the annular component of the field practically disappears. It is shown that in this case the light field in the region of the secondary focusing is a locally Bessel light beam. The peculiarity of this beam is that its cone angle depends on the longitudinal component, namely, decreases in inverse proportion while the distance z increases. The important feature of such z-dependent Bessel beams is the absence of their transformation into annular fields, as it occurs for ordinary Bessel or Bessel-Gaussian beams in the far field region. This opens the prospect for application of z-dependent Bessel beams for optical communication in free space and remote probing, which is why such beams are perspective for application in different systems of remote probing.