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Needle beams and structured space-time wavepackets

Published 3 days agoVersion 1arXiv:2512.03993

Authors

Ruediger Grunwald, Martin Bock

Categories

physics.optics

Abstract

Recent research on needle beams and space-time wavepackets (STWPs) is presented. Quasi-nondiffracting STWPs propagate at stable spatial and temporal localization over extended distances. In a simple model, STWPs are interpreted as being composed of differential needle beams. Simulations indicate that pulsed Bessel-like needle beams can reach higher spectral and temporal homogeneity compared to spatio-spectrally shaped focused Gaussian beams. The interference of femtosecond needle beam arrays leads to nondiffracting self-imaging in space and time. High-speed switching of STWPs with combined optical systems, orbital angular momentum generation with self-torque and other emerging fields of research are addressed

Needle beams and structured space-time wavepackets

3 days ago
v1
2 authors

Categories

physics.optics

Abstract

Recent research on needle beams and space-time wavepackets (STWPs) is presented. Quasi-nondiffracting STWPs propagate at stable spatial and temporal localization over extended distances. In a simple model, STWPs are interpreted as being composed of differential needle beams. Simulations indicate that pulsed Bessel-like needle beams can reach higher spectral and temporal homogeneity compared to spatio-spectrally shaped focused Gaussian beams. The interference of femtosecond needle beam arrays leads to nondiffracting self-imaging in space and time. High-speed switching of STWPs with combined optical systems, orbital angular momentum generation with self-torque and other emerging fields of research are addressed

Authors

Ruediger Grunwald, Martin Bock

arXiv ID: 2512.03993
Published Dec 3, 2025

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