Formation and propagation of Bessel beams: practical considerations

Bessel beams belong to a class of propagation invariant, structured laser beams, and are used in various applications, including particle micro-manipulation, optical coherence tomography, optical metrology, and high resolution microscopy. In practice, Bessel beams are produced by optical fields with finite lateral dimensions propagating through finite aperture optical components, such as axicons. However, field distortions and component misalignments influence the shape of the resulting beams. In this paper, we present the influence of the beam shape and ellipticity, beam forming optics imperfections, and component misalignments on the shape of the resulting Bessel beams along the direction of propagation. Our results demonstrate that even modest fabrication errors in the input field distribution or component formation can significantly increase undesirable axial intensity oscillations in the resulting Bessel beams. Misalignments between the axicon and incoming laser beam can additionally lead to a decrease in the maximum axial intensity of the propagating beam.