A photon echo experiment in Tm(3+):YAG is reported that shows, for the first time to the authors' knowledge, the time-domain equivalent of the transition from near- to far-field diffraction, including Talbot self-imaging effects. The experiment demonstrates the huge dispersion capability of photon echoes and opens the way to further exploration of space-time duality.

We propose a method to obtain improved expressions for the diffraction of circular apertures in boundary between near and far field. The is based on an analysis center value pattern derived from Fresnel expression. shown be applied both amplitude, phase, complex apertures, compared propagation simulations. show how these new allow use Fraunhofer approximation at numbers least twice as large con...

When one performs a coherent small-angle X-ray scattering experiment, the incident beam must be spatially filtered by slits on a length scale smaller than the transverse coherence length of the source which is typically around 10 microm. The Fraunhofer diffraction pattern of the slit is one of the important sources of background in these experiments. New slits which minimize this parasitic back...

Cantor diffractals are waves that have encountered a Cantor grating. In this paper, we report an important property of Cantor diffractals, namely that of redundancy. We observe that the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern comprises of several bands, each containing complete information about the fractal aperture. This redundancy allows for a faithful reconstruction ...