Airy Beams: A New Class Of Optical Waves

The force-free Schrödinger equation can exhibit a non-spreading Airy wavepacket solution, which has the ability to freely accelerate during propagation, even in the absence of any external potential. These beams can follow parabolic trajectories in such a way that is similar to the ballistics of projectiles moving under the action of gravity. Their center of gravity moves on straight lines in perfect agreement with Ehrenfest\u27s theorem. Airy packets can also self-heal during propagation. Their asymmetric intensity pattern could prove advantageous in near-field microscopy. These patterns could also prove useful even in one-dimension, and could lead to ultrafset non-dispersive airy pulses or spatiotemporal optical bullets