Effect of spherical aberration and surface waves on propagation of lens-coupled terahertz pulses

Spatiotemporal measurements of a near-single-cycle terahertz pulse emitted from a photoconductive switch terahertz (THz) source show the effects of spherical aberration and surface waves on the pulse shape. The measured phase front has a swallow-tail shape described by catastrophe theory that contributes to the concentric ring structure of THz beam profiles. A time-of-flight model shows that the pulse shape is due to propagation along a cusp caustic and enhancement of the wings of the swallow-tail pulse is caused by surface waves.