Volume holography using Bessel-like reference beams

Abstract

Bessel-like holograms of a plane wave were successfully recorded and reconstructed using a zeroth-order Bessel beam. The Bessel beam was generated using an annular slit method and the recording process took place inside a lithium niobate crystal. The reconstructed beams were self-healing, a property which might find applications in imaging through distorting media. Another property observed was that the beam’s central core seems to be oscillating and together with its self-healing property, the beam might prove useful in future applications of optical holography. These results serve as the first step towards generating non-diffracting images of complex objects.