Diffraction of short-pulse Laguerre–Gaussian beams

Abstract

Based on the numerical solution of the parabolic wave equation for the complex spectral amplitude of the wave field, the propagation of short-pulse vortex optical beams in a homogenous medium is studied by an example of a Laguerre–Gaussian femtosecond beam. It has been shown that the diffraction spreading of the Laguerre–Gaussian beam decreases with decreasing pulse duration as compared to continuous wave beams.