An improved beam waist formula for ultrashort, tightly-focused linearly, radially, and azimuthally polarized laser pulses in free space

Abstract

We derive an asymptotically accurate formula for the beam waist of ultrashort, tightly-focused fundamental linearly-polarized, radially-polarized, and azimuthally-polarized modes in free space. We compute the exact beam waist via numerical cubature to ascertain the accuracy with which our formula approximates the exact beam waist over a broad range of parameters of practical interest. Based on this, we describe a method of choosing parameters in the model given the beam waist and pulse duration of a laser pulse.

5 pages, 3 figures. Liang Jie Wong, Franz X. Kärtner, and Steven G. Johnson, "Improved beam waist formula for ultrashort, tightly focused linearly, radially, and azimuthally polarized laser pulses in free space,"