Abstract

We construct and generate symmetric accelerating caustic beams (ACBs) by using 3/2-order phase-only masks with elliptical contour based on optical caustics and diffraction theory. The symmetric ACBs are a type of bimodal accelerating caustic beam with two quasi-constant intensity peaks, very similar to the combination of two face-to-face Airy-like beams judging by appearance. Their fundamental optical morphology and force properties of particles in ACBs are subsequently provided. The unique optical properties of ACBs can be exploited for practical uses, such as accelerating electrons and clearing micrometer-sized particles as a laser micrometer-sized “water pump” instead of a laser micrometer-sized “snowblower” of accelerating Airy beams.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

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