Effect of temporal coherence on the Fresnel diffraction pattern by slit aperture

A formulation is developed for investigating the effect of temporal coherence of the illumination on the intensity distribution in the Fresnel diffraction field of a slit aperture. The formula derived is applied to actually obtain the intensity distributions both along the axis normal to the slit aperture and in the Fresnel diffraction patterns for various receiving planes parallel to the aperture plane. It is found that the temporal coherence is less effective on the intensity distribution in the Fresnel diffraction field. The theoretical results for Fresnel diffraction patterns of a slit aperture illuminated by partially, temporally coherent light are experimentally confirmed.