Nondiffracting stationary electromagnetic field

Abstract A class of electromagnetic fields which are nondiffracting, in the sense of a given definition, is investigated. General stationary nondiffracting electromagnetic fields are constructed from solutions of the scalar Helmholtz equation. Some nondiffracting fields in cylindrical coordinates are investigated by means of properties of the transversal Poynting vector. It is shown that the amplitudes of the electric and magnetic vectors are, in the studied cases, proportional to the superposition of Bessel functions and the phases can have features of vector optical vortices (phases have edge and screw dislocations).