Open AccessDiscreteness of the set of radiant point sources: a physical feature of the second-order wave-fronts
Author(s) -
Román Castañeda,
David Vargas,
Esteban Franco
Publication year - 2013
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.21.012964
Subject(s) - optics , wavefront , paraxial approximation , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , physical optics , physics , diffraction , plane wave , aperture (computer memory) , ptychography , coherence theory , coherence length , quantum mechanics , acoustics , beam (structure) , superconductivity
The non-paraxial phase-space representation of diffraction of optical fields in any state of spatial coherence has been successfully modeled by assuming a discrete set of radiant point sources at the aperture plane instead of a continuous wave-front. More than a mere calculation strategy, this discreteness seems to be a physical feature of the field, independent from the sampling procedure of the modeling.