Tornado waves

We show that light spiraling like a tornado can be generated by superimposing abruptly auto-focusing ring-Airy beams that carry orbital angular momentum of opposite handedness. The superimposing ring-Airy beams are tailored so that they abruptly auto-focus at overlapping focal regions although following distinct parabolic trajectories. This results to a complex wave with intense lobes that twist and shrink in an accelerating fashion along propagation. By achieving angular acceleration that exceeds 295 rad/mm², these Tornado waves can find broad application in laser trapping, direct laser writing and high harmonic generation.