Focusing properties of an axicon pair

The focusing properties of a so-called reflaxicon (a combination of a diverging and a converging axicon) are studied both theoretically and experimentally. Calculations of intensity distributions produced by this system are made by evaluating the Kirchhoff–Fresnel diffraction integral, first by means of an approximate technique, the stationary phase method, then by a more exact numerical method. The calculations are presented for various planes along the axis of the axicons. The effects of the presence of the supporting mount of the axicons and of some important misalignments of the system on the distributions is also investigated. Experimental results of actual intensity distributions produced by focusing a near-fundamental Gaussian beam by such a system are also presented and are seen to be in fair agreement with numerical calculations. Such calculations would be valuable in many applications for predicting important characteristics (e.g., peak intensity, length of the focal line, degree of asymmetry) of the intensity distributions formed by optical systems containing an axicon pair as the focusing component.