We present a systematic study of the transmitted field of an ultrashort pulse through Young’s double slit. We show how the spatial-temporal distribution of the field in the near and intermediate zone is affected by the input polarization state of the pulse. The analysis has been separated to study the dispersion, the diffraction and the interference effects individually. A combination of these effects provide the key to understand the temporal dependence of the field observed at various distinctive locations. A thorough understanding of the near- and intermediate-field distribution of a single- or double-slit for an ultrashort pulse can be exploited in many near-field applications, and tailored by tuning the width, thickness, and separation of the slits.

• Received 25 January 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.053810