A study of the problem of propagation and focusing of laser radiation in an apertured 'super-Gaussian' form

The effect of aperturing a laser beam on the propagation and focusing of radiation having a super-Gaussian form of the power density in the cross-section of the beam is numerically analyzed. The equations of the problem, the solution method, and the agreement between the numerical and analytical solutions are shown. The results of the numerical analysis for the near and far field regions are discussed. It is found that the amplitude of diffraction fluctuations of the power density in a laser beam and the amplitude of oscillation of the power density at the axis of that beam decrease with decreasing apodization exponent and decreasing aperturing height.