Time dependence of Fresnel diffraction of ultrashort laser pulses by a circular aperture

摘要

We report on the time dependences of the Fresnel diffraction of ultrashort laser pulses by a circular aperture. The diffraction leads to a pulse delay, time shape change, pulse broadening, and peak power decrease. These effects may have to be taken into account whenever critical thresholds are encountered as, for example, in nonlinear optics or laser fusion.#1997 Optical Society of America