Abstract

A theoretical study of the plane-wave diffraction by a heart-like sharp-edge aperture corresponding to the involute of a circle is proposed here. Through the recently developed paraxial boundary diffraction wave theory, expressed via the language of catastrophe optics, the presence of pseudo-nondiffracting regions within the three-dimensional spatial intensity distribution of the diffracted wavefield is intuitively explained and quantitatively characterized. The results of some old, beautiful, but nearly forgotten, diffraction experiments have also been reconsidered from such a peculiar and rather unorthodox perspective.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

Catastrophe optics of sharp-edge diffraction

Riccardo Borghi
Opt. Lett. 41(13) 3114-3117 (2016)

Uniform asymptotics of paraxial boundary diffraction waves

Riccardo Borghi
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 32(4) 685-696 (2015)

Sharp-edge diffraction under Bessel beam illumination: a catastrophe optics perspective

Riccardo Borghi and Cristian G. Carosella
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 39(6) 1117-1127 (2022)

Tailoring axial intensity of laser beams with a heart-shaped hole

Yulong Wang, Lijuan Xie, Jiasheng Ye, Wenfeng Sun, Xinke Wang, Shengfei Feng, Peng Han, Qiang Kan, and Yan Zhang
Opt. Lett. 42(23) 4921-4924 (2017)

Sharp-edge diffraction under Gaussian illumination: a paraxial revisitation of Miyamoto-Wolf’s theory

Riccardo Borghi
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 36(6) 1048-1057 (2019)