Intra-cavity generation of a superposition of Bessel-Gauss beams

The generation of intra-cavity superpositions of Bessel-Gauss beams in an axicon resonator is studied numerically by means of a genetic algorithm. The coherent superposition of low order modes is induced by introducing crossed wires within the simulated cavity. Two different strategies are shown to be equivalent for the generation of the same superposition of two Bessel-Gauss beams with opposite azimuthal orders. In the first strategy the angle between a pair of cross-wires is varied for mode selection, the second consists on introducing a number of cross-wires at equally spaced angles in which the number of wires corresponds exactly to the order of the superposed modes. Our results suggest a direct method for generating experimentally a coherent mode superposition of Bessel-Gauss beams using an axicon-based Bessel-Gauss resonator. These beams are relevant in areas such as optical trapping and micromanipulation.