title: Nonparaxial Mathieu and Weber accelerating beams.
abstract: We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally nonparaxial Mathieu and Weber accelerating beams, generalizing the concept of previously found accelerating beams. We show that such beams bend into large angles along circular, elliptical, or parabolic trajectories but still retain nondiffracting and self-healing capabilities. The circular nonparaxial accelerating beams can be considered as a special case of the Mathieu accelerating beams, while an Airy beam is only a special case of the Weber beams at the paraxial limit. Not only do generalized nonparaxial accelerating beams open up many possibilities of beam engineering for applications, but the fundamental concept developed here can be applied to other linear wave systems in nature, ranging from electromagnetic and elastic waves to matter waves.
authors.affiliation: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, 3112 Etcheverry Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Tongcang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Drake
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cannan
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morandotti
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang