2017/03/22 by Alessandro Zannotti, Falko Diebel, Martin Boguslawski +1
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Beam (structure) #Butterfly #Catastrophe theory #Caustic (mathematics) #Classical mechanics #Cusp (singularity) #Diffraction #Field (mathematics) #Fourier transform #Geometry #Mathematical physics #Nonlinear Photonic Systems #Optics #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Paraxial approximation #Physics #Plant Reproductive Biology #Pure mathematics #Quantum mechanics #Space (punctuation) #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aa6ecd
published as New J. Phys. 19, 053004 (2017)
arxiv created 2017/03/22 · openalex publication_date 2017/04/24 · arxiv updated 2017/05/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We experimentally realize higher-order catastrophic structures in light fields presenting solutions of the paraxial diffraction catastrophe integral.They are determined by potential functions whose singular mapping manifests as caustic hypersurfaces in control parameter space.By addressing different cross-sections in the higher-dimensional control parameter space, we embed swallowtail and butterfly catastrophes with varying caustic structures in the lower-dimensional transverse field distribution.We systematically analyze these caustics analytically and observe their field distributions experimentally in real and Fourier space.Their spectra can be described by polynomials or expressions with rational exponents capable to form a cusp.