Expand this Topic clickable element to expand a topic
Skip to content
Optica Publishing Group

Achromatic diffraction of femtosecond light pulses

Not Accessible

Your library or personal account may give you access

Abstract

Diffraction of electromagnetic waves in free space is a physical phenomenon that explicitly depends on the wavelength of light radiation. As an ultrashort-pulsed waveform consists of many frequency components that are coherently superposed, diffraction of a femtosecond pulse passing through an aperture radically differs from that under continuous wave (CW) monochromatic illumination. Note that the spectral width of a 5 fs pulsed beam is approximately 400 nm, which roughly corresponds to the entire visible spectrum bandwidth. The spectral distribution of the source results in the chromatic distortion, both lateral and axial, of the optical field diffracted by the aperture. This detrimental effect under pulsed-laser illumination has been examinated in free-space diffraction by a screen [1], where the broad spectrum tends to smooth the time-averaged diffracted irradiance, in the context of the Talbot effect [2], and in splitting and focusing of femtosecond pulses [3].

© 2003 Optical Society of America

PDF Article
More Like This
Diffraction transformation of ultrashort pulses in subcycle regime

O. Mitrofanov
WA2 Ultrafast Electronics and Optoelectronics (UEO) 2003

Diffractive-refractive achromatic optical processor for white-light spatial filtering

P. Andrés, E. Tajahuerce, J. Lancis, V. Climent, and M. Fernández-Alonso
JTuB.7 Diffractive Optics and Micro-Optics (DOMO) 1996

Select as filters


Select Topics Cancel
© Copyright 2024 | Optica Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved