Abstract
The variations of the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern formed by a Gaussian beam passing through a circular aperture are described. It is shown that a discontinuous process of several steps occurs as the beam truncation by the aperture decreases. Each step consists of a sequence of mergers of two neighboring diffraction rings. This sequence repeats continuously and finally leads to the degeneration of the Airy pattern into a single spot, i.e., the Gaussian pattern corresponding to the Fraunhofer diffraction of a nontruncated Gaussian beam.
© 1987 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Yajun Li
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(9) 1397-1406 (1988)
V. Nourrit, J.-L. de Bougrenet de la Tocnaye, and P. Chanclou
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 18(3) 546-556 (2001)
Norman G. Worku and Herbert Gross
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 36(5) 859-868 (2019)