Abstract

Shaping laser beams has been a fascinating topic in optic studies lately, because they exhibit intriguing characteristics and have potential applications. One of the most commonly used profiles is the Bessel beams. These beams, which are first shown by Durnin and others, are called also diffraction-free beams [1]. They have much long length of focus and their profiles do not change in free space propagation. Bessel beams also indicate self-healing property [2]. When the beams encounter an obstacle, they can reconstruct their initially intensity profiles after short propagation. This property enables imaging deeper into highly scattering media like biological tissues [3]. Recently, Siviloglou and others have demonstrated accelerating Airy beams [4]. Airy beams are also diffraction-free beams like Bessel beams. Furthermore, they expose acceleration. Focus of an Airy beam moves along a parabola. Airy beams also exhibit self-healing. However, the self-healing behaviour of Airy beams in turbid media has not yet been explored comprehensively.

© 2011 Optical Society of America