Real and virtual propagation dynamics of angular accelerating white light beams

Abstract

Accelerating waves have received significant attention of late, first in the optical domain and later in the form of electron matter waves, and have found numerous applications in non-linear optics, material processing, microscopy, particle manipulation and laser plasma interactions. Here we create angular accelerating light beams with a potentially unlimited acceleration rate. By employing wavelength independent digital holograms for the creation and propagation of white light beams, we are able to study the resulting propagation in real and virtual space. We find that dephasing occurs for real propagation and that this can be compensated for in a virtual propagation scheme when single plane dynamics are important. Our work offers new insights into the propagation dynamics of such beams and provides a versatile tool for further investigations into propagating structured light fields.