A uniform formulation for the self-imaging of gratings with any kind of partially coherent illumination is developed in terms of the cross mutual spectral density of the partial coherence theory. The formulation includes the time diffractive intensity distribution and the averaged diffractive intensity distribution at self-imaging distances and can be applied to both continuous and temporal illuminations with any kind of spectra. It is found that the averaged intensity distribution is related only to the intensity spectrum of illumination. The continuous polychromatic illumination and the ultrashort laser pulses with or without frequency chirp are then studied by a numerical stimulation. It is shown that the ultrashort laser pulse and the continuous polychromatic illuminations have similar averaged self-image distributions. Thus the Talbot effect may help in the study of the temporal and spectral characteristics of ultrashort laser pulses. An experiment with an LED is given, as well.
An oscillatory characteristic of diffraction is observed as a result of strong beam coupling in a weakly oxidized LiNbO3:Ce:Cu crystal during the recording step in the production of nonvolatile photorefractive holograms. On this basis the optimal switching time from the recording step to the fixing step for high diffraction of a fixed hologram is studied. It is shown that switching after the first diffraction maximum leads theoretically to fixed diffraction of as much as 100% with a suitable switching time. Both an experimental demonstration and a theoretical simulation are presented.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.