We demonstrate matter-wave self-imaging resulting from atomic center-of-mass motion-based interference. We show that non-negligible atomic center-of-mass motion and an instantaneous Doppler shift can drastically change the condensate momentum distribution, resulting in a periodic collapse and the recurrence of condensate diffraction probability as a function of the stationary light-field pulsin...

A few years ago, diffraction of atoms by double slits and gratings was achieved for the first time, and standard optical wave-theory provided an excellent description of the experiments. More recently, diffraction of weakly bound molecules and even clusters has been observed. Due to their size and to possible breakup processes optical wave-theory is no longer adequate and a more sophisticated a...

Fresnel diffraction at a straight edge is revisited for nonlinear acoustics. Considering the penumbra region as a diffraction boundary layer governed by the KZ equation and its associated jump relations for shocks, similarity laws are established for the diffraction of a step shock, an "N" wave, or a periodic sawtooth wave. Compared to the linear case described by the well-known Fresnel functio...

In this experiment you will become familiar with diffraction patterns created when a beam of light scatters from objects placed in its path. Such experiments were important historically as they were crucial in establishing the wave nature of light in face of competing theories that described light in terms of geometrical rays of discrete objects. Only a wave theory can give a quantitative expla...

A rigorous analysis is presented of the diffraction efficiency of a polarization-insensitive surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid-crystal (SSFLC) phase grating, taking full account of the internal structure of the ferroelectric liquid-crystal layer. When no field is applied, the twisted director profile in the relaxed state gives an optimum diffraction efficiency for a device thickness betwe...

Wave aberrations in the human eye are usually known with respect to the ideal spherical wavefront in the exit pupil. Using Kirchhoff's diffraction theory, we have derived a diffraction integral to compute the optical field on the retina from the wave aberration data. We have proposed a numerical algorithm based on the Stamnes-Spjelkavik-Pedersen (SSP) method to solve that integral. We have show...

Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) is an imaging technique that seeks to restore the exit-surface wave from intensity measurements, either in the far field diffraction plane or the Fresnel diffraction region. To date numerous strategies have been proposed to complete this restoration, the most successful being the original scheme proposed by Gerchberg and Saxton and its subsequent modifications...

We report the wave-front phase measurement of high-order harmonics employing point-diffraction interferometry. The high-order harmonics generated in a gas-filled hollow tube showed excellent spatial coherence over nearly the whole cross section of the harmonic beams. Using this coherent harmonic source in the extreme-ultraviolet-soft-x-ray region, we have demonstrated the operation of a point-d...

Based on an expanded distorted-wave approximation, analytical intensity expressions are derived for phasesensitive reference-beam x-ray diffraction in both the transmission and the reflection cases. Results from this approach are compared with the rigorous n-beam dynamical theory calculations and are shown to be very accurate if the crystal is in the thin kinematic limit. The method represents ...

A semi-empirical model for surf zone wave height decay is adapted to the parabolic equation method in order to include the effect of depth-limited wave breaking in combined refraction/diffraction calculations. Several examples for plane beaches are presented in order to show correspondence between the empirical model, its numerical formulation, and previous laboratory data. The model is then ap...