Spectral anomalies of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulses and their potential applications

Starting from the Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction integral and without invoking the paraxial approximation, analytical expressions for the field distribution, far-field power spectrum and temporal far-field distribution of chirped Gaussian pulses diffracted at a circular aperture are derived, which enables us to study the spectral anomalous behavior of diffracted chirped Gaussian pulses in the far field. The potential applications of spectral anomalies of ultrashort pulses are discussed. It is found that at the critical angle the spectral switch appears. The frequency difference between the two equal heights of spectral switches increases and the corresponding critical diffraction angle slightly increases as the chirp parameter increases and pulse duration decreases. In a certain region of the truncation parameter, the critical angle decreases with increasing truncation parameter. By suitably varying the pulse duration, chirp parameter and truncation parameter, information encoding and transmission are achievable in the use of chirped Gaussian pulses.