Bessel–Bessel–Gaussian vortex laser beams

Abstract We obtain and investigate Bessel–Bessel–Gaussian vortex beams (BBG beams) with the complex amplitude being equal to a product of the Gaussian function with two Bessel functions, whose arguments are expressed as complicated radicals including the cylindrical coordinates and a free parameter that defines the shape of the intensity distribution. If this parameter is small, the intensity has the shape of an inhomogeneous ring. For larger values of this parameter, the intensity has the shape of two arcs or ‘crescents’, oriented by their concave sides to each other. The complex amplitude of such beams is derived in explicit form for an arbitrary distance from the waist. We demonstrate that the BBG beams rotate upon propagation anomalously fast: at a distance much shorter than the Rayleigh length, the intensity distribution is already rotated by almost 45°, whereas typically, the rotation angle of vortex Gaussian beams is equal to the Gouy phase. It is also shown that the parameter of the BBG beam allows controlling its topological charge (TC): when the parameter value is positive and increases, the beam TC also increases stepwise by an even number. Besides, we study two other similar vortex BBG beams: either with four local intensity maxima, lying on the Cartesian coordinates axes, or with one intensity maximum with a crescent shape, whose center is on the horizontal axis. The derived three new families of asymmetric vortex laser beams, whose complex amplitude is described by explicit analytical expressions at an arbitrary distance from the waist, extend the variety of laser beams that can be used for manipulating and rotating microparticles, free space data transmission, and in quantum informatics.