Abstract

We have formulated and proven the following theorem: the superposition of an arbitrary number of arbitrarily off-axis, identical nonparaxial optical vortex beams of arbitrary radially symmetric shape, integer topological charge $n$, and arbitrary real weight coefficients has the normalized orbital angular momentum (OAM) equal to that of individual constituent identical beams. This theorem enables generating vortex laser beams with different (not necessarily radially symmetric) intensity profiles but identical OAM. Superpositions of Bessel, Hankel–Bessel, Bessel–Gaussian, and Laguerre–Gaussian beams with the same OAM are discussed.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

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