Diffraction of terahertz waves after passing through a Fresnel lens

The spatiotemporal and spectral characteristics of ultrawide-band terahertz pulses after passing through a Fresnel lens are studied by using the scalar diffraction theory. The simulation shows that the transmitted terahertz waveforms compress with increasing propagation distance, and the multi-frequency focusing phenomenon at different focal points is observed. Additionally, the distribution of terahertz fields in a plane perpendicular to the axis is also discussed, and it is found that the diffraction not only induces focusing on-axis but also inhibits focusing at off-axis positions. Therefore, the Fresnel lens may be a useful alternative approach to being a terahertz filter. Moreover, the terahertz pulses travelling as a basic mode of a Gaussian beam are discussed in detail.