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.
Reiten
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School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA.
Cheville
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