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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry
Published on: August 12, 2013
Decentered Gaussian beams, ray bundles, and Bessel-Gauss beams
Abstract:
The concept of ray parameters for decentered Gaussian beams is developed on a formal basis. When the beam propagates through first-order optical systems, these parameters are transformed as the ray parameters of geometrical optics. It is shown how this feature helps one to understand the behavior of more sophisticated beams that can be considered as bundles of decentered Gaussian beams. In particular, the case of Bessel-Gauss beams and their recently introduced generalizations is analyzed, and simple transformation formulas are obtained.
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