<p>Near-field communication (NFC) is emerging as a key enabler of future 6G wireless systems, driven by the deployment of extremely large-scale antenna arrays (ELAA) and the shift toward millimeter-wave and terahertz frequencies. In this context, the paper introduces an advanced near-field beamforming framework centered around an optimized circular array (OCA), addressing the limitations of traditional uniform circular arrays (UCAs) and uniform linear arrays (ULAs). The OCA architecture incorporates strategic angular perturbations to mitigate mutual coupling effects, which are critical in compact and dense antenna deployments. This geometric innovation is complemented by an enriched channel model that accounts for spherical-wave propagation and inter-element coupling, facilitating accurate signal representation and beamforming design. A novel closed-form expression for beamforming gain is derived, capturing the impact of spatial distortion through modulated Bessel functions and coupling coefficients. Furthermore, the study introduces the effective Rayleigh distance (<i>ERD</i>) and a refined 3&#xa0;dB Depth-of-Focus (DoF) metric, offering a more accurate spatial characterization of near-field performance boundaries. To enhance spatial resolution, a non-uniform spiral-ring codebook is proposed, employing correlation-constrained adaptive sampling in both angular and radial domains. This design ensures efficient beam training, reduced inter-codeword interference, and superior spatial discrimination. Simulation results validate the proposed framework, demonstrating substantial improvements over ULA and UCA counterparts in terms of near-field region extension, beamforming precision, and spectral efficiency. The findings confirm the OCA’s capability to facilitate advanced communication paradigms such as location division multiple access (LDMA), marking a significant advancement in the practical realization of high-performance 6G near-field systems.</p>