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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Femtosecond Laser Filaments for Use in Sub-Diffraction-Limited Imaging and Remote Sensing
Published on: April 25, 2019
Application of Hertz vector diffraction theory to the diffraction of focused Gaussian beams and calculations of focal
Glen D Gillen1, Kendra Baughman, Shekhar Guha
1Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA. ggillen@calpoly.edu
Abstract:
Hertz vector diffraction theory is applied to a focused TEM00 Gaussian light field passing through a circular aperture. The resulting theoretical vector field model reproduces plane-wave diffractive behavior for severely clipped beams, expected Gaussian beam behavior for unperturbed focused Gaussian beams as well as unique diffracted-Gaussian behavior between the two regimes. The maximum intensity obtainable and the width of the beam in the focal plane are investigated as a function of the clipping ratio between the aperture radius and the beam width in the aperture plane.
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