Knotted nodal lines in superpositions of Bessel-Gaussian light beams
arXiv:2009.13220 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.103.013509
Abstract
A simple analytical way of creating superpositions of Bessel-Gaussian light beams with knotted nodal lines is proposed. It is based on the equivalence between the paraxial wave equation and the two-dimensional Schrödinger equation for a free particle. The Schrödinger propagator is expressed in terms of Bessel functions, which allows to obtain directly superpositions of beams with a desired topology of nodal lines. Four types of knots are constructed in the explicit way: the unknot, the Hopf link, the Borromean rings and the trefoil. It is also shown, using the example of the figure-eight knot, that more complex structures require larger number of constituent beams as well as high precision both from the numerical and the experimental side. A tiny change of beam's intensity can lead to the knot "switching".
arXiv commentREVTEX, 10 pages, 8 figures
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