Self-reconstruction property of fractional Bessel beams

We study the self-reconstruction property of a fractional Bessel beam (FBB), where the FBB is described in terms of a Bessel beam of a fractional order for both amplitude and azimuthal phase components. The simulation and experimental results show that the FBB can overcome a block of obstacles and regenerate itself after a characteristic distance. As a comparison, the propagation of a Gaussian beam and an integer-order Bessel beam (IBB) through the same obstacles are also studied. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.