Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Gauss's Law: Spherical Symmetry

Gauss's Law: Spherical Symmetry

A charge distribution has spherical symmetry if the density of charge depends only on the distance from a point in space and not on the direction. In other words, if the system is rotated, it doesn't look different. For instance, if a sphere of radius R is uniformly charged with charge density ρ0, then the distribution has spherical symmetry. On the other hand, if a sphere of radius R is charged so that the top half of the sphere has a uniform charge density ρ1 and the bottom half has a uniform...

Gauss's Law: Cylindrical Symmetry

Gauss's Law: Cylindrical Symmetry

A charge distribution has cylindrical symmetry if the charge density depends only upon the distance from the axis of the cylinder and does not vary along the axis or with the direction about the axis. In other words, if a system varies if it is rotated around the axis or shifted along the axis, it does not have cylindrical symmetry. In real systems, we do not have infinite cylinders; however, if the cylindrical object is considerably longer than the radius from it that we are interested in,...

Gauss's Law: Planar Symmetry

Gauss's Law: Planar Symmetry

A planar symmetry of charge density is obtained when charges are uniformly spread over a large flat surface. In planar symmetry, all points in a plane parallel to the plane of charge are identical with respect to the charges. Suppose the plane of the charge distribution is the xy-plane, and the electric field at a space point P with coordinates (x, y, z) is to be determined. Since the charge density is the same at all (x, y) - coordinates in the z = 0 plane, by symmetry, the electric field at P...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Stellar scintillation statistics and the impact of aperture averaging on space-to-ground optical communications.

Optics express·2023

Same author

Optical communications downlink from a low-earth orbiting 1.5U CubeSat.

Optics express·2019

Same author

Optical downlink propagation from space-to-earth: aperture-averaged power fluctuations, temporal covariance and power spectrum.

Optics express·2018

Same author

Temporal averaging of atmospheric turbulence-induced optical scintillation.

Optics express·2015

Same author

Exponentiated Weibull distribution family under aperture averaging Gaussian beam waves: comment.

Optics express·2012

Same author

Spatial filtering velocimetry of objective speckles for measuring out-of-plane motion.

Applied optics·2012

Same journal

Multifunctional reconfigurable terahertz metasurface based on vanadium dioxide phase transition: achieving broadband absorption and efficient polarization conversion.

Applied optics·2026

Same journal

High-Q-factor electromagnetically induced transparency utilizing quasi-bound states in the continuum in an all-dielectric terahertz metasurface.

Applied optics·2026

Same journal

Automated stitching interferometry for high-precision metrology of X-ray mirrors.

Applied optics·2026

Same journal

Experimental demonstration of an approach to designing a metal-dielectric DBR resonant cavity structure.

Applied optics·2026

Same journal

High-precision wavefront reconstruction from a single-shot interferogram using a physics-driven hybrid feature calibration network.

Applied optics·2026

Same journal

Ultra-high-Q Fano resonance based on coupled topological corner states in Kagome photonic crystals.

Applied optics·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2026

The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry

The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry

Published on: August 12, 2013

Gaussian beam transfer through hard-aperture optics.

H T Yura, T S Rose

|November 10, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study analyzes Gaussian beam diffraction through circular and rectangular apertures. It provides approximations for transmitted power within the main lobe based on aperture shape and truncation.

More Related Videos

Measurement of X-ray Beam Coherence along Multiple Directions Using 2-D Checkerboard Phase Grating

Measurement of X-ray Beam Coherence along Multiple Directions Using 2-D Checkerboard Phase Grating

Published on: October 11, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 6, 2026

The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry

The Generation of Higher-order Laguerre-Gauss Optical Beams for High-precision Interferometry

Published on: August 12, 2013

Measurement of X-ray Beam Coherence along Multiple Directions Using 2-D Checkerboard Phase Grating

Measurement of X-ray Beam Coherence along Multiple Directions Using 2-D Checkerboard Phase Grating

Published on: October 11, 2016

Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Electromagnetism
Diffraction Theory

Background:

Gaussian beams are fundamental in laser optics and optical systems.
Aperture diffraction significantly impacts beam propagation and energy distribution.
Understanding power distribution is crucial for designing optical instruments.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate Gaussian beam diffraction through hard-edged circular and rectangular apertures.
To derive analytic approximations and numerical results for transmitted power.
To analyze the fraction of power in the main lobe as a function of the truncation ratio.

Main Methods:

Numerical simulations of Gaussian beam diffraction.
Derivation of elementary analytic approximations.
Calculation of far-field irradiation distribution.
Analysis of power fraction within the central lobe.

Main Results:

Accurate analytic approximations for transmitted power fraction were developed.
Numerical results validated the analytic approximations.
The fraction of power in the main lobe was quantified relative to the truncation ratio.

Conclusions:

The study provides reliable methods for predicting Gaussian beam power distribution after aperture diffraction.
Analytic approximations offer efficient tools for optical system design.
Results are applicable to both circular and rectangular aperture scenarios.