Arbitrary nonparaxial accelerating periodic beams and spherical shaping of light

We report the observation of arbitrary accelerating beams (ABs) designed using a nonparaxial description of optical caustics. We use a spatial light modulator-based setup and techniques of Fourier optics to generate circular and Weber beams subtending over 95 deg of arc. Applying a complementary binary mask also allows the generation of periodic ABs taking the forms of snake-like trajectories, and the application of a rotation to the caustic allows the first experimental synthesis of optical ABs upon the surface of a sphere in three dimensions.