title: Rapidly accelerating Mathieu and Weber surface plasmon beams.
abstract: We report the generation of two types of self-accelerating surface plasmon beams which are solutions of the nonparaxial Helmholtz equation in two dimensions. These beams preserve their shape while propagating along either elliptic (Mathieu beam) or parabolic (Weber beam) trajectories. We show that owing to the nonparaxial nature of the Weber beam, it maintains its shape over a much larger distance along the parabolic trajectory, with respect to the corresponding solution of the paraxial equation-the Airy beam. Dynamic control of the trajectory is realized by translating the position of the illuminating free-space beam. Finally, the ability of these beams to self-heal after blocking obstacles is demonstrated as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Libster-Hershko
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Itai
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Ady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arie