Naidoo, DarrylGodin, TFromager, MAït-Ameur, KForbes, A2014-08-192014-08-192014-02Naidoo, D, Godin, T, Fromager, M, Aït-Ameur, K and Forbes, A. 2014. Spatial superpositions of Gaussian beams. In: Proceedings of SPIE, Volume 8999, Complex Light and Optical Forces VIII, San Francisco, California, 1 February 2014http://spie.org/Publications/Proceedings/Paper/10.1117/12.2039033http://hdl.handle.net/10204/7609Proceedings of SPIE, Volume 8999, Complex Light and Optical Forces VIII, San Francisco, California, 1 February 2014We explore an interferometric beam shaping technique that considers the coaxial superposition of two Gaussian beams. This technique is traditionally implemented in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer; however, to avoid phase shift drift due to vibrations and thermal effects we employ amplitude and phase modulation with a spatial light modulator (SLM) to achieve the beam shaping. We consider two Gaussian beams of equal but opposite curvature that possess the same phase and width incident on a focusing lens. At the plane of the lens we obtain a multi-ringed beam with a central intensity maximum which develops into a multi-ringed beam with a central null at the focal plane of the lens. The interesting feature of this beam is that it possesses two focal spots on either side of the focal plane of the lens. We investigate obstructing the beam at the focal plane of the lens and by carefully selecting the free parameters we obtain an unobstructed second focus while the equivalent Gaussian beam is sufficiently obstructed.enCosine-Gaussian beamOptical bottle beamBi-axial focusingBeam shaping techniqueConference PresentationNaidoo, D., Godin, T., Fromager, M., Aït-Ameur, K., & Forbes, A. (2014). Spatial superpositions of Gaussian beams. SPIE Proceedings. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/7609Naidoo, Darryl, T Godin, M Fromager, K Aït-Ameur, and A Forbes. "Spatial superpositions of Gaussian beams." (2014): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/7609Naidoo D, Godin T, Fromager M, Aït-Ameur K, Forbes A, Spatial superpositions of Gaussian beams; SPIE Proceedings; 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/7609 .TY - Conference Presentation AU - Naidoo, Darryl AU - Godin, T AU - Fromager, M AU - Aït-Ameur, K AU - Forbes, A AB - We explore an interferometric beam shaping technique that considers the coaxial superposition of two Gaussian beams. This technique is traditionally implemented in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer; however, to avoid phase shift drift due to vibrations and thermal effects we employ amplitude and phase modulation with a spatial light modulator (SLM) to achieve the beam shaping. We consider two Gaussian beams of equal but opposite curvature that possess the same phase and width incident on a focusing lens. At the plane of the lens we obtain a multi-ringed beam with a central intensity maximum which develops into a multi-ringed beam with a central null at the focal plane of the lens. The interesting feature of this beam is that it possesses two focal spots on either side of the focal plane of the lens. We investigate obstructing the beam at the focal plane of the lens and by carefully selecting the free parameters we obtain an unobstructed second focus while the equivalent Gaussian beam is sufficiently obstructed. DA - 2014-02 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Cosine-Gaussian beam KW - Optical bottle beam KW - Bi-axial focusing KW - Beam shaping technique LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2014 T1 - Spatial superpositions of Gaussian beams TI - Spatial superpositions of Gaussian beams UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/7609 ER -