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Optics for Engineers
book

Optics for Engineers

by Charles A. DiMarzio
August 2011
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
564 pages
20h 45m
English
CRC Press
Content preview from Optics for Engineers
9
GAUSSIAN BEAMS
In Chapter 8, we discussed the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern of Gaussian beams, and we
noted that the Fourier transform of a Gaussian function is also a Gaussian function. We will
see in this chapter that the Gaussian beam is a Gaussian function of transverse distances x
and y at all locations along its axis (z). The Gaussian beam merits its own chapter for several
reasons:
The output beams of many types of lasers are approximated well by Gaussian functions.
The Gaussian function is the minimum-uncertainty wave as mentioned in Section 8.1,
which makes it a good limiting case against which to compare other waves.
The equations
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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781439807255