Generation of an axially asymmetric bessel-like beam from a metallic subwavelength aperture

An electromagnetic nondiffractive Bessel-like beam from a subwavelength aperture is generated by placing a metallic circular gratinglike structure in front of the aperture. When the incident wave is linearly polarized, the beam is axially asymmetric. The beam possesses fluctuating, but approximately uniform, intensity distribution along its longitudinal axis. The full width at half maximum of the beam remains less than two wavelengths over nearly ten wavelengths. Our experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results and analytical results. © 2009 The American Physical Society