Observation of self-accelerating Bessel-like optical beams along arbitrary trajectories

We experimentally demonstrate self-accelerating Bessel-like optical beams propagating along arbitrary trajectories in free space. With computer-generated holography, such beams are designed to follow different controllable trajectories while their main lobe transverse profiles remain nearly invariant and symmetric. Examples include parabolic, snake-like, hyperbolic, hyperbolic secant, and even three-dimensional spiraling trajectories. The self-healing property of such beams is also demonstrated. This new class of optical beams can be considered as a hybrid between accelerating and nonaccelerating nondiffracting beams that may find a variety of applications. (c) 2013 Optical Society of Americ