Bright and dark diffractive focusing

We investigate bright and dark diffractive focusing emerging in the free propagation of specific wave profiles. These general wave phenomena manifest themselves in matter, water, and classical waves. In this article, we lay the foundations for these effects and illustrate their origin in Wigner phase space. Our theoretical studies are supported by experimental demonstrations of dark focusing in water waves. Moreover, by using different phase slits we analyze several aspects of bright and dark focusing for classical and matter waves.