Diffraction-free beams in fractional Schrödinger equation

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 23645
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yiqi, Zhong, Hua, Belić, Milivoj R., Ahmed, Noor, Zhang, Yanpeng, Xiao, Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.04.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/624/1111; 639/766/400; 639/766/400/482; Diffraction; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Propagation; Science; Splitting
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep23645

We investigate the propagation of one-dimensional and two-dimensional (1D, 2D) Gaussian beams in the fractional Schrödinger equation (FSE) without a potential, analytically and numerically. Without chirp, a 1D Gaussian beam splits into two nondiffracting Gaussian beams during propagation, while a 2D Gaussian beam undergoes conical diffraction. When a Gaussian beam carries linear chirp, the 1D beam deflects along the trajectories z  = ±2( x  −  x 0 ), which are independent of the chirp. In the case of 2D Gaussian beam, the propagation is also deflected, but the trajectories align along the diffraction cone and the direction is determined by the chirp. Both 1D and 2D Gaussian beams are diffractionless and display uniform propagation. The nondiffracting property discovered in this model applies to other beams as well. Based on the nondiffracting and splitting properties, we introduce the Talbot effect of diffractionless beams in FSE.