New expressions for field distribution in the focal region

In an earlier paper dealing with the flat-topped light beams [Y. Li, Opt. Lett. 27 (2002) 1007], it is shown that the flat-topped beams can be expressed as 1 − [1 − exp(−ξ²)]^M, where ξ is a dimensionless parameter and M is a non-negative number. The binomial expansion of this express contains only lowest-order Gaussian modes; this situation makes it possible to develop a new formulation of diffraction of converging spherical wave at an aperture in a plane opaque screen if the Gaussian mode expansion is employed to describe the boundary values of the screen.