Introduction of a new cylindrical beam and study of its propagation through a paraxial optical system.

This work introduces a new kind of laser beam called Laguerre-Whittaker-Gaussian beams (LWGBs) in terms of Laguerre and Whittaker functions in the source plane. Applying the integral of Huygens-Fresnel, a propagation formula of LWGBs traversing a paraxial ABCD optical system is derived. The variation of the intensity distribution of the propagated LWGBs with the beam structure parameters, such as the beam orders (m, n) and the topological charge l, is discussed with some graphical representations. The results reveal that m, n and l have a considerable impact on the beam's properties as it propagates in free space. Also, in a thin lens in a free space, it is found that the focal length affects the beam shape. In the case of the Fourier transform system, it is observed that the intensity pattern of the LWGBs is more focused with the decrease of the focal length. This research is helpful for optical communication and optical trapping because the beam studied has a zero intensity in the center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]