Nondiffracting and vortex beams generated by spatial light modulator

In the paper, we briefly review properties of nondiffracting and vortex beams and disscuss their applicability to the particle manipulation and the transfer of information. An efficient method enabling a possibility to arrange the beam spots into patterns and arrays of a predetermined shape is also proposed and examined. A particular attention is focused on experiments providing nondiffracting patterns composed of spatially separated or coaxial vortices of different topological charges. The experiments are realized by a spatial light modulator and are prospective for the design of variable optical tweezers and spanners. The coaxial mixed vortex fields are promising for a capacity-increased encoding of information.