Propagation properties of ultrashort pulsed beams with constant waist width in free space

Based on the Rayleigh diffraction integral and complex analytical signal representation, the strict propagation expression and its Fourier spectrum for ultrashort pulsed Gaussian beams with constant waist width are derived, which have the general applicable advantage, because the paraxial approximation, pulsed envelope representation and far-field approximation are not invoked. The far-field and paraxial expressions are obtained as the special cases of our general results. Numerical calculation results are given to illustrate the spatiotemporal propagation properties of few- and single-cycle pulsed Gaussian beams with constant waist width. A comparison with the paraxial results and previous work is also made.