Vortex astigmatic Fourier-invariant Gaussian beams.

We find a two-parameter family of astigmatic elliptical Gaussian (AEG) optical vortices, which are free space modes up to scale and rotation. We calculate total normalized orbital angular momentum of AEG vortices, which can be an integer, fractional and zero, and which is equal to the algebraic sum of two terms reflecting the contribution of the vortex and astigmatic components of the light field. In any transverse plane, such a beam has an isolated n-fold degenerate intensity null on the optical axis (an optical vortex) embedded into an elliptical Gaussian beam. In addition to the quadratic elliptical phase, a beam has the phase of a cylindrical lens rotated by an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the principal axes of the ellipse of the Gaussian beam intensity distribution. The degenerated central intensity null in these beams does not split it into n spatially separated intensity nulls, as is usually assumed for elliptical astigmatic beams.