Abstract

The spectral properties of almost-Gaussian functions are considered and applied to the characterization to the second-order approximation in the expansion of the coefficients of almost-perfect optical pulses. Specifically, adding small amounts of odd-order Hermite-Gaussians to a Gaussian induces a second-order increase in the time-bandwidth product, while the increase in the time-bandwidth product from adding even-order Hermite-Gaussian is higher-order and hence smaller. We indicate the class of small perturbations of Gaussian functions which change neither the temporal profile of the intensity nor the intensity of the spectral profile. We compare the almost-Gaussian functions with femtosecond temporal width pulses data given by a Ti:Sapphire laser.

© 2000 SPIE