Effects of spectral linewidth of ultrashort pulses on the spatiotemporal distribution of diffraction fields

The spatiotemporal characteristics of electromagnetic pulses with ultrabroad spectral bandwidth in the far field are analyzed by using classical scalar diffraction theory. The effects of the ratio of the frequency width to the central frequency on the diffraction spatial distribution are discussed. It is concluded that the diffraction spatial distribution of the pulsed radiation gets narrower than a monochromatic wave when the frequency width of the pulse is comparable to or larger than its central frequency.