Open AccessSelf-imaging of three-dimensional images by pulsed wave fields
Author(s) -
Kaido Reivelt
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.10.000360
Subject(s) - optics , physics , wave equation , scalar (mathematics) , wave propagation , pixel , talbot effect , focus (optics) , optical field , diffraction , electric field , mathematics , quantum mechanics , geometry
Recently, the classical Talbot effect (self-imaging of optical wave fields) has attracted a renewed interest, as the concept has been generalized to the domain of pulsed wave fields by several authors. In this paper we discuss the self-imaging of three-dimensional images. We construct pulsed wave fields that can be used as self-imaging "pixels" of a three-dimensional image and show that their superpositions reproduce the spatial separated copies of its initial three-dimensional intensity distribution at specific time intervals. The derived wave fields will be shown to be directly related to the fundamental localized wave solutions of the homogeneous scalar wave equation - focus wave modes. Our discussion is illustrated by some spectacular numerical simulations. We also propose a general idea for the optical generation of the derived wave fields. The results will be compared to the work, published so far on the subject.