Open AccessWhat are the traveling waves composing the Hermite-Gauss beams that make them structured wavefields?
Author(s) -
Jorge Alberto Ugalde-Ontiveros,
Alfonso Jaimes-Nájera,
Songjie Luo,
J. E. Gómez-Correa,
Jixiong Pu,
Sabino Chávez-Cerda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.424782
Subject(s) - paraxial approximation , hermite polynomials , superposition principle , gauss , spurious relationship , gaussian , physics , optics , wave propagation , classical mechanics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , computer science , beam (structure) , quantum mechanics , statistics
To the best of our knowledge, at the present time there is no answer to the fundamental question stated in the title that provides a complete and satisfactory physical description of the structured nature of Hermite-Gauss beams. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide proper answers supported by a rigorous mathematical-physics framework that is physically consistent with the observed propagation of these beams under different circumstances. In the process we identify that the paraxial approximation introduces spurious effects in the solutions that are unphysical. By removing them and using the property of self-healing, that is characteristic to structured beams, we demonstrate that Hermite-Gaussian beams are constituted by the superposition of four traveling waves.