Directly recording diffraction phenomena in the time domain

The wave-field produced by a ~30 fs duration Ti:sapphire oscillator pulse behind a circular aperture and circular opaque disk is measured using the ultrashort-laser-pulse measurement technique, scanning SEA TADPOLE. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the measuring technique enables us to fully image the diffracted field behind the apertures and record the interference pattern produced by the so-called boundary diffraction wave pulses.Keywords: diffraction, interference