Alternative Coherent-Mode Representation of a Planar Source

doi:10.1117/3.680516.ch5

Book: Coherent-Mode Representations in Optics

Author(s): Andrey S. Ostrovsky

Published: 2006

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.680516.ch5

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

The coherent-mode representation of the source is an essential tool in describing the processes and systems in optics. However, the practical value of this representation is essentially restricted. Really, in practice, the analytic expression for the cross-spectral density function W(x 1 ,x 2 ) , as a rule, is unknown and, hence, values Î» n and functions Ï n (x) cannot be found as the solution of the Fredholm equation (5.2). Moreover, even when the cross-spectral density function is approximated by a certain analytic function, the solution of this equation in closed form may be obtained only for a very limited number of field models (see Section 1.6). Clearly, an alternative approach to the problem of the coherent-mode representation of the source, which does not involve the solution of the Fredholm equation (5.2), is desired. Here, we propose such an approach based on the replacement of an original source with an unknown cross-spectral density function by an alternative source with a cross-spectral density function that may be approximated according to the results of physical measurements.