The generation of an array of nondiffracting beams by a single composite computer generated hologram

Abstract

Nondiffracting beams have generated great interest recently owing to their potential applications and unique properties. In this paper, we propose and validate a simple and effective method to generate arrays of various nondiffracting modes using a composite computer-generated hologram, which comprises N × N holograms each generating an individual nondiffracting beam. Employing the composite hologram approach, we can modulate individual nondiffracting beam in an array by varying the location, dimension, and phase information coded on each hologram. We experimentally generated regular arrays of Bessel beams, customized-shaped arrays of Bessel beams, and arrays of self-imaged optical bottle beams. The interference among the beams in the arrays was found to be weak within the nondiffracting distance.