Modulated Bessel beams for non-diffracting circularly symmetric optical lattices*

We modify Bessel beams generated by an axicon employing binary phase modulation. We design a converter, which consist of a binary phase plate in combination with an axicon, that we use for converting the flat top beam into non-diffracting optical centrosymmetric lattice. Numerical simulations of the converter performance show that the resultant lattice has high peak intensity, which makes it a good option for our goal to overcome plasma generation threshold under the limited laser power condition. To find optimal parameters experimentally, we use the spatial light modulator to simulate the binary phase plate and the low intensity flat top He-Ne laser beam. The binary geometry of the phase plate allows its manufacturing using simple two-level lithography for high energy experiments. In addition, we take into account the effects of ultrashort laser pulse on the converter performance (plasma production and lattice stability) and simulate the time-dependent intensity output with a typical Ti:sapphire femtosecond Fourier transform limited laser pulse as an input.