Open AccessWide-field interferometric measurement of a nonstationary complex coherence function
Author(s) -
Roxana Rezvani Naraghi,
Heath Gemar,
Mahed Batarseh,
Andre Beckus,
George K. Atia,
Sergey Sukhov,
Aristide Dogariu
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
optics letters/optics index
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1071-2763
pISSN - 0146-9592
DOI - 10.1364/ol.42.004929
Subject(s) - optics , interferometry , wavefront , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , physics , shearing interferometer , spatial frequency , shearography , astronomical interferometer , quantum mechanics
Spatial coherence function (SCF) is a complex function of two spatial coordinates that, in general, carries more information than the bare intensity distribution. A fast and quantitatively accurate measurement of the SCF is extremely important for a range of applications in optical sensing and imaging. Here, we demonstrate an efficient two-step procedure for measuring the full-field complex coherence function. The measurement relies on an optimized design of a wavefront shearing interferometer capable of characterizing spatially inhomogeneous fields over an extended angular domain. The measurement precision is confirmed by the excellent agreement with a numerical estimation based on Fresnel calculations. We demonstrate that the sensitivity and the measurement range afforded by our instrument permits us to reliably describe the differences in the complex coherence functions that are due to subtle modifications in the shape, position, and orientation of radiation sources.