INTENSITY AND PHASE MEASUREMENTS OF NONDIFFRACTING BEAMS GENERATED WITH A MAGNETOOPTIC SPATIAL LIGHT-MODULATOR

Nondiffracting beams are of interest for optical metrology application s because the size of the beam does not change as the beam propagates. However, accuracy can be increased if the diameter of the beam is sma ller. One technique for accomplishing this is to use the dark axial in tensity profile associated with a higher-order nondiffracting Bessel f unction beam. We generate these higher-order Bessel function beams wit h a programmable spatial light modulator. We study the intensity patte rns and the phase dependence of these nondiffracting beams. In additio n, we examine interference effects caused by recording these patterns onto a binary spatial light modulator. (C) 1996 Optical Society of Ame rica