Diffraction characteristics of spatial and temporal Gaussian-shaped femtosecond laser pulse by rectangle reflection grating

The exact intensity distribution expression for the spatial and temporal Gaussian-shaped femtosecond laser pulse diffracted by a rectangle reflection grating is derived. The spatial and temporal diffraction characteristics are theoretically investigated in detail, and a criterion for judging whether or not the diffraction pulse is just split into two independent pulses in the temporal domain is obtained. The results show that the diffraction intensity in the temporal domain consists of three parts: the intensity diffracted by the upper reflection surface of the grating, the intensity diffracted by the nether reflection surface, and their temporal coherent intensity. The temporal coherent intensity becomes weaker, even is zero, for the higher height from the nether surface to the upper surface of the grating. The principal maximum becomes more sharply bright for the bigger waist width of the femtosecond laser pulse in the spatial domain. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America