Experimental Generation of Spatiotemporal Bessel-Gauss Beams

We recently proposed a new class of two-dimensional (in x and t) theoretically invariant optical wave packets characterized by a spatiotemporal Bessel function (STB beams). In these particular field distributions, a balance between the diffraction and the dispersion of pulsed beams takes place. The solution describing the propagation of an STB beam is independent of the propagation distance, but the infinite dimensions of this beam make it impossible to generate. The dimensions of this beam can be limited by the use of a Gaussian envelope, resulting in a spatiotemporal Bessel-Gauss beam (STBG beam), that we have generated experimentally. We present the experimental setup used to generate STBG beams and experimental beam profiles which are in good agreement with those of theoretical STBG beams.