Theory of partially coherent electromagnetic fields in the space-frequency domain

H-Bonds in Crambin: Coherence in an α-Helix

We applied coherence analysis-used by engineers to identify linear interactions in stochastic systems-to molecular dynamics simulations of crambin, a thionin storage protein found in Abyssinian cabbage. A key advantage of coherence over other analyses is that it is robust, independent of the properties, or even the existence of probability distributions often relied on in statistical mechanics. For frequencies between 0.391 and 5.08 GHz (corresponding reciprocally to times of 2.56 and 0.197 ns), the displacements of oxygen and nitrogen atoms across α-helix H-bonds are strongly correlated, with a coherence greater than 0.9; the secondary structure causes the H-bonds to effectively act as a spring. Similar coherence behavior is observed for covalent bonds and other noncovalent interactions including H-bonds in β-sheets and salt bridges. In contrast, arbitrary pairs of atoms that are physically distant have uncorrelated motions and negligible coherence. These results suggest that coherence may be used to objectively identify atomic interactions without subjective thresholds such as H-bond lengths angles and angles. Strong coherence is also observed between the average position of adjacent leaves (groups of atoms) in an α-helix, suggesting that the harmonic analysis of classical molecular dynamics can successfully describe the propagation of allosteric interactions through the structure.

Nonparaxial Propagation of Bessel Correlated Vortex Beams in Free Space

The nonparaxial propagation of partially coherent beams carrying vortices in free space is investigated using the method of decomposition of the incident field into coherent diffraction-free modes. Modified Bessel correlated vortex beams with the wavefront curvature are introduced. Analytical expressions are presented to describe the intensity distribution and the degree of coherence at different distances. The evolution of the intensity distribution during beam propagation for various source parameters is analyzed. The effects of nonparaxiality in the propagation of tightly focused coherent vortex beams are analyzed.

Simulating random optical fields: tutorial

Numerous applications-including optical communications, directed energy, remote sensing, and optical tweezing-utilize the principles of statistical optics and optical coherence theory. Simulation of these phenomena is, therefore, critical in the design of new technologies for these and other such applications. For this reason, this tutorial describes how to generate random electromagnetic field instances or realizations consistent with a given or desired cross-spectral density matrix for use in wave optics simulations. This tutorial assumes that the reader has knowledge of the fundamental principles of statistical optics and optical coherence theory. An extensive reference list is provided where the necessary background information can be found. We begin this tutorial with a brief summary of the coherent-mode representation and the superposition rule of stochastic electromagnetic fields as these foundational ideas form the basis of all known synthesis techniques. We then present optical field expressions that apply these concepts before discussing proper sampling and discretization. We finally compare and contrast coherent-mode- and superposition-rule-based synthesis approaches, discussing the pros and cons of each. As an example, we simulate the synthesis and propagation of an electromagnetic partially coherent field from the literature. We compare simulated or sample statistics to theory to verify that we have successfully produced the desired field and are capturing its propagation behaviors. All computer programs, including detailed explanations of the source code, are provided with this tutorial. We conclude with a brief summary.

Singular-value decomposition and electromagnetic coherence of optical beams

We investigate the implications of the singular-value decomposition of the cross-spectral density (CSD) matrix to the description of electromagnetic spectral spatial coherence of stationary light beams. We show that in a transverse plane any CSD matrix can be expressed as a mixture of two CSD matrices corresponding to beams which are fully polarized but in general spatially partially coherent. The polarization and coherence structures of these constituent beams are specified, respectively, by the singular vectors and singular values of the full CSD matrix. It follows that vector-beam coherence, including the coherence Stokes parameters and the degree of coherence, can be formulated in terms of only two correlation functions. We further establish two-point analogs of the spectral and characteristic decompositions of the polarization matrix and show that in the case of a Hermitian CSD matrix their composition is specified by the so-called degree of cross-polarization.

Efficient calculation of highly focused electromagnetic Schell-model beams

The calculation of the propagation of partially coherent and partially polarized optical beams involves using 4D Fourier Transforms. This poses a major drawback, taking into account memory and computational capabilities of nowadays computers. In this paper we propose an efficient calculation procedure for retrieving the irradiance of electromagnetic Schell-model highly focused beams. We take advantage of the separability of such beams to compute the cross-spectral density matrix by using only 2D Fourier Transforms. In particular, the number of operations depends only on the number of pixels of the input beam, independently on the coherence properties. To provide more insight, we analyze the behavior of a beam without a known analytical solution. Finally, the numerical complexity and computation time is analyzed and compared with some other algorithms.

Poincaré sphere of electromagnetic spatial coherence

We introduce a Poincaré sphere construction for geometrical representation of the state of two-point spatial coherence in random electromagnetic (vectorial) beams. To this end, a novel descriptor of coherence is invoked, which shares some important mathematical properties with the polarization matrix and spans a new type of Stokes parameter space. The coherence Poincaré sphere emerges as a geometric interpretation of this novel formalism, which is developed for uniformly and nonuniformly fully polarized beams. The construction is extended to partially polarized beams as well and is demonstrated with a field having separable spatial coherence and polarization characteristics. At a single point, the coherence Poincaré sphere reduces to the conventional polarization Poincaré sphere for any state of partial polarization.

Blackbody far-field coherence

We revisit the spectral coherence properties of far-field radiation emanating from an aperture in a blackbody cavity on the basis of Kirchhoff's boundary conditions. We point out that the far zone cross-spectral density matrix derived earlier in the literature by separately propagating all three aperture-field components does not show transversality of the field at nonparaxial directions. This is not the case when Luneburg's diffraction integrals are applied on the transverse source field components to determine the entire far field. We compare the electromagnetic degrees of coherence for the two methods and show that over important angular separations their values coincide with high accuracy. The results of this work and of others concerning the far-field intensity, polarization, and paraxial angular coherence are in full agreement.

Statistical properties of an electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam propagating in uniaxial crystals along the optical axis

Within the angular-spectrum representation, we study the partially coherent beam propagating in uniaxial crystals along the optical axis. By a method of vortex expansion, we derive the analytical solution for the cross-spectral density (CSD) function of an electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model (EGSM) beam. We demonstrate that the analytical expression of CSD function can be written into a quasi-coherent-mode representation, whose basis vectors are constructed by the elegant Laguerre-Gaussian (eLG) functions. Several limits of the analytical solution are examined and good agreements with previous theories are obtained. Moreover, we calculate the energy density and degree of polarization (DOP) of the EGSM beam, from which the effects of coherent degree on the propagating properties are revealed. It is found that the energy conversion between circularly polarized components becomes rapid when the degree of coherence is decreasing. For all degree of coherence, the energy density and DOP exhibit a similar saturated behavior in the far field.

Fast calculation of tightly focused random electromagnetic beams: controlling the focal field by spatial coherence

Focusing of a vectorial (electromagnetic) optical beam through a high numerical aperture can be investigated by means of the Richards-Wolf diffraction integral. However, such an integral extends from two-dimensional to four-dimensional, greatly increasing the computation time and therefore limiting the applicability, when light with decreased spatial coherence is considered. Here, we advance an effective protocol for the fast calculation of the statistical properties of a tightly focused field produced by a random electromagnetic beam with arbitrary state of spatial coherence and polarization. The novel method relies on a vectorial pseudo-mode representation and a fast algorithm of the wave-vector space Fourier transform. The procedure is demonstrated for several types of radially (fully) polarized but spatially partially coherent Schell-model beams. The simulations show that the computation time for obtaining the focal spectral density distribution with 512 × 512 spatial points for a low coherence beam is less than 100 seconds, while with the conventional quadruple Richards-Wolf integral more than 100 hours is required. The results further indicate that spatial coherence can be viewed as an effective degree of freedom to govern both the transverse and longitudinal components of a tightly focused field with potential applications in reverse shaping of focal fields and optical trapping control.

Polarimetric nonregularity of evanescent waves

Three-dimensional polarization states of random light can be classified into regular and nonregular according to the structure of the related 3×3 polarization matrix. Here we show that any purely evanescent wave excited in total internal reflection of a partially polarized plane-wave field is always in a nonregular polarization state. The degree of nonregularity of such evanescent waves is also studied in terms of a recently advanced measure. Nonregular evanescent waves uncover new aspects of the polarimetric structure and dimensional character of electromagnetic near fields, with potential applications in nanoscale surface optics.

Young's interference experiment with electromagnetic narrowband light

We consider electromagnetic spectral spatial coherence of random stationary light beams of arbitrary spectral width. We demonstrate that the normalized spectral coherence (or two-point) Stokes parameters and the electromagnetic spectral degree of coherence can be measured by narrowband filtering the light and detecting the spectral density and the polarization-state fringes around the optical axis of Young's interferometer. It is also shown that the normalized spectral polarization (or one-point) and coherence Stokes parameters are unaffected by filtering, and that the filtered light is strictly cross-spectrally pure. We further prove theoretically and confirm experimentally that the (time-domain) electromagnetic degree of spatial coherence of the filtered light at the pinholes does not increase when the passband of the filter is reduced.

Effect of linear polarizers on the behavior of partially coherent and partially polarized highly focused fields

In this Letter, we describe the behavior of partially coherent, partially polarized focused vector beams after passing a linear polarizer placed at the focal plane of a high numerical aperture microscope lens. In particular, we develop a mathematical framework for such beams that helps the understanding of the performance of polarizers when interact with non-paraxial beams. The features of the focused field after the polarizer are numerically evaluated for some illustrative examples.

Temporal modes of stationary and pulsed quasistationary electromagnetic beams

We present a novel time-domain coherent-mode representation for random, stationary electromagnetic beams. We subsequently introduce random, quasistationary pulsed electromagnetic beams and develop an analogous (pseudo) mode decomposition for them as well. The former decomposition is valid provided the time window in which the field is considered is much longer than the coherence time, while the latter requires the field to vanish outside the window. For stationary beams, the theory is demonstrated by an example illustrating the role of polarization in the representation. In both cases, the data needed for the construction of the mode decomposition are straightforward to measure. The formalisms enable us to treat random vector-light beams in the time domain in terms of deterministic fields. We expect that the modal representations will find a wide range of applications in problems involving spatiotemporal propagation of temporally partially coherent light in optical systems.

Plasmon coherence determination by nanoscattering

We present a simple and robust protocol to recover the second-order field correlations of polychromatic, statistically stationary surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) from a spectrum measurement in the far zone of a dipolar nanoscatterer. The recovered correlations carry comprehensive information about the spectral, spatial, and temporal coherence of the SPPs. We also introduce and exemplify for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the two-point Stokes parameters associated with partially coherent SPP fields.

Quasi-monochromatic modes of quasi-stationary, pulsed scalar optical fields

We investigate the temporal coherence of random, pulsed, quasi-stationary scalar light fields and introduce a new type of expansion for the mutual coherence function in terms of fully coherent frequency-shifted quasi-monochromatic modes of identical shape. The mode representation is valid provided the pulse length is shorter and the coherence time is much shorter than the width of the time window in which the field is considered. The construction of the expansion is particularly straightforward since information is required only on the average spectrum and the average temporal intensity. The method enables us to assess the coherence properties of quasi-stationary light by analyzing the behavior of deterministic quasi-monochromatic fields. The frequency-domain counterpart of the representation is also given. The method is illustrated by application to a pulsed free-electron laser source.

Deterministic mode representation of random stationary media for scattering problems

Deterministic mode representation (DMR) is introduced for a three-dimensional random medium with a statistically stationary refractive index distribution. The DMR allows for the designing and fine tuning of novel random media by adjusting the weights of individual deterministic modes. To illustrate its usefulness, we have applied the decomposition to the problem of weak light scattering from a Gaussian Schell-model medium. In particular, we have shown how individual deterministic modes of the medium contribute to the scattered far-field spectral density distribution.

Electromagnetic theory of optical coherence [Invited]

The coherence theory of random, vector-valued optical fields has been of great research interest in recent years. In this work we formulate the foundations of electromagnetic coherence theory both in the space-time and space-frequency domains, with particular emphasis on various types of optical interferometry. Analyzing statistically stationary, two-component (paraxial) electric fields in the classical and quantum-optical contexts we show fundamental connections between the conventional (polarization) Stokes parameters and the associated two-point (coherence) Stokes parameters. Measurement of the coherence and polarization properties of random vector beams by nanoparticle scattering and two-photon absorption is also addressed.

Linear algebraic theory of partial coherence: continuous fields and measures of partial coherence

This work presents a linear algebraic theory of partial coherence for optical fields of continuous variables. This approach facilitates use of linear algebraic techniques and makes it possible to precisely define the concepts of incoherence and coherence in a mathematical way. We have proposed five scalar measures for the degree of partial coherence. These measures are zero for incoherent fields, unity for fully coherent fields, and between zero and one for partially coherent fields.

Spectrum of classes of point emitters of electromagnetic wave fields

The spectrum of classes of point emitters has been introduced as a numerical tool suitable for the design, analysis, and synthesis of non-paraxial optical fields in arbitrary states of spatial coherence. In this paper, the polarization state of planar electromagnetic wave fields is included in the spectrum of classes, thus increasing its modeling capabilities. In this context, optical processing is realized as a filtering on the spectrum of classes of point emitters, performed by the complex degree of spatial coherence and the two-point correlation of polarization, which could be implemented dynamically by using programmable optical devices.

Connection of electromagnetic degrees of coherence in space-time and space-frequency domains

We study the relationship between the electromagnetic degrees of coherence of stationary random fields in the space-time and space-frequency domains. In contrast to a known result on scalar fields, it appears that, due to the structure of the electromagnetic degree of coherence, no general closed-form relationship exists for the electromagnetic degrees in the two domains. However, relations that illustrate the similarities and differences between the two quantities can be established by specific considerations covering quasi-monochromatic and broadband situations of electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beams and blackbody radiation.

Generation and propagation of an electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model vortex beam

We outline the propagation of an electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model (EGSM) vortex beam through a paraxial ABCD optical system and analyze the vortex phase-induced changes of the statistical properties, such as average intensity, state of polarization, and degree of polarization (DOP), of a focused EGSM beam. It is found that one can shape the beam profile of an EGSM vortex beam in the focal plane through varying its initial topological charge, DOP, and coherence widths. Furthermore, we first report experimental generation of an EGSM vortex beam and measure its focusing properties in experiments. Our experimental results are consistent with the numerical results and may be useful in material thermal processing and particle trapping.

Partial coherence and polarization of a two-mode surface-plasmon polariton field at a metallic nanoslab

Rigorous electromagnetic theory is utilized to characterize the partial spatial coherence and partial polarization of a two-mode field consisting of the long-range and the short-range surface-plasmon polariton at a metallic nanofilm. By employing appropriate formulations for the spectral degrees of coherence and polarization, we examine the fundamental limits for these quantities associated with such a superposition field and explore how the degrees are influenced when the media, frequency, and slab thickness are varied. It is in particular shown that coherence lengths extending from subwavelength scales up to thousands of wavelengths are possible and their physical origins are elucidated. In addition, we demonstrate that for ultra-thin films the generally highly polarized two-mode field can be partially polarized in close vicinity of the polariton excitation region. The results could benefit cross-disciplinary electro-optical applications in which near-field interactions between plasmons and nanoparticles are exploited.

Effective degree of coherence: a second look

In this paper, we show that the most general set of transformations of electromagnetic fields, for which overall (global) second-order coherence properties can reasonably be expected to remain unchanged, is the set of scaled unitary transformations. Building on our earlier results concerning coherence functionals that are invariant to scaled unitary transformations, we prove that the effective degree of coherence is the only such functional that is "additive" in the sense that it can be computed for linear combinations of fields from its values for pairwise sums of the constituent fields. Additionally, we highlight the fact that the invariance of the effective degree of coherence to scaled unitary transformations means that it has the same value when computed from most of the important representations of electromagnetic fields. We then go on to use the effective degree of coherence to provide a generalization of the scalar two-point degree-of-coherence function to a system consisting of two orthogonal Hilbert spaces. Interestingly, several commonly used measures of coherence and polarization turn out to be special cases of this generalization.

Statistical similarity and complete coherence of electromagnetic fields in time and frequency domains

We investigate the statistical similarity of partially polarized, partially coherent electromagnetic fields in time and frequency domains, and the relationship between statistical similarity and complete coherence. We find that, both in time domain and frequency domain, the complete coherence of two fields is equivalent to the fields being both fully polarized and statistically similar. Unlike in scalar coherence theory, statistical similarity alone is found not to constitute a sufficient condition for complete coherence. We derive the conditions under which spectrally completely coherent fields are also temporally fully coherent, and we point out that temporally completely coherent fields are necessarily fully spectrally coherent at all frequencies. Complete temporal and spectral coherence of electromagnetic fields are found to be related to the recently introduced concept of strict cross-spectral purity, but in contrast to the scalar case, strict cross-spectral purity is not a necessary condition for complete temporal coherence if the fields have different spectral polarization states.

Plane-wave decomposition of spatially random fields

We investigate the uniqueness of the plane-wave decomposition of temporally deterministic, spatially random fields. Specifically, we consider the decomposition of spatially ergodic and, thus, statistically homogeneous fields. We show that when the spatial power spectrum is injective, the plane waves are the only possible coherent modes. Furthermore, the randomness of such fields originates in the spatial spectral phase, i.e., the phase associated with the coefficients of each plane wave in the expansion. By contrast, the spectral amplitude is deterministic and is specified by the spatial power spectrum. We end with a discussion showing how the results can be translated in full to the time domain.

Computational approaches for generating electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model sources

Two different methodologies for generating an electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model source are discussed. One approach uses a sequence of random phase screens at the source plane and the other uses a sequence of random complex transmittance screens. The relationships between the screen parameters and the desired electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model source parameters are derived. The approaches are verified by comparing numerical simulation results with published theory. This work enables one to design an electromagnetic Gaussian-Schell model source with pre-defined characteristics for wave optics simulations or laboratory experiments.

Experimental determining the coherent-mode structure of vector electromagnetic field through its decomposition in reference basis

A technique for experimental determining the coherent-mode structure of electromagnetic field is proposed. This technique is based on the coherence measurements of the field in some reference basis and represents a nontrivial vector generalization of the dual-mode field correlation method recently reported by F. Ferreira and M. Belsley [Opt. Lett.38(21), 4350 (2013)]. The justifiability and efficiency of the proposed technique is illustrated by an example of determining the coherent-mode structure of some specially generated and experimentally characterized secondary electromagnetic source.

Optical binding of cylinder photonic molecules in the near field of partially coherent fluctuating Gaussian Schell model sources: a coherent mode representation

We present a theory and computation method of radiation pressure from partially coherent light by establishing a coherent mode representation of the radiation forces. This is illustrated with the near field emitted from a Gaussian Schell model source, mechanically acting on a single cylinder with magnetodielectric behavior, or on a photonic molecule constituted by a pair of such cylinders. Thus after studying the force produced by a single particle, we address the effects of the spatial coherence on the bonding and antibonding states of two particles. The coherence length manifests the critical limitation of the contribution of evanescent modes to the scattered fields, and hence to the nature and strength of the electromagnetic forces, even when electric and/or magnetic partial wave resonances are excited.

Elementary-field analysis of partially coherent beam shaping

We consider spatial shaping of partially coherent fields in two types of optical systems: a 2F Fourier-transforming system with the beam shaping element in the input plane and a 4F imaging system with the element in the intermediate Fourier plane. Different representations of the spatially partially coherent field in terms of fully coherent fields are examined to permit reduction of the dimensionality of the propagation integrals. The standard Mercer-type coherent-mode representation of the incident cross-spectral density (CSD) function is compared to expansions of CSD in either spatially or angularly shifted elementary field modes, all sharing the same spatial profile. In Fourier-transforming systems, the angular elementary-field representation proves computationally superior, while in imaging systems the spatially shifted elementary-field expansion is the best choice. Considering the Fourier-plane element as a generalized pupil, the latter leads to the concept's generalized amplitude associated with the elementary field and to a generalized transfer function of the system. These concepts reduce to the standard point spread function and the optical transfer function in the limit of spatial incoherence at the object plane. Examples of the effects of partial coherence in spatial beam shaping are given.

Coherent-mode representation of partially polarized pulsed electromagnetic beams

Coherent-mode representation provides physical insight and computational simplification into the analysis of random optical signals. In this work, we present the coherent-mode decomposition for pulsed electromagnetic beam fields. We show that the mode decomposition can be done for any valid space-frequency or space-time coherence matrix representing nonstationary pulsed electric field, and moreover, the spectral and temporal modes are connected via a Fourier transform relation. The analysis also yields the coherent modes of electromagnetic time-domain signals in temporal optics. We present the overall degree of coherence as a measure of the average temporal or spectral and spatial coherence of the beam. Several illustrative examples are discussed analytically and numerically.

Mapping the coherence time of far-field speckle scattered by disordered media

The polarization and temporal coherence properties of light are altered by scattering events. In this paper, we follow a far-field approach, modelizing the scattering from disordered media with the scattering matrix formalism. The degree of polarization and coherence time of the scattered light are expressed with respect to the characteristics of the incident field.

Approach for fast numerical propagation of uniformly polarized random electromagnetic fields in dispersive linearly birefringent systems

An efficient simulation technique is proposed for computing propagation of uniformly polarized statistically stationary fields in linear nonimage-forming systems that includes dispersion of linear birefringence to all orders. The method is based on the discrete-time Fourier transformation of modified frequency profiles of the spectral Stokes parameters. It works under the condition that all (linearly) birefringent sections present in the system are described by the same phase birefringence dispersion curve, being a monotonic function of the optical frequency within the bandwidth of the light. We demonstrate the technique as a supplement for the Mueller-Stokes matrix formalism extended to any uniformly polarized polychromatic illumination. Accuracy of its numerical implementation has been verified by using parameters of a Lyot depolarizer made of a highly birefringent and dispersive monomode photonic crystal fiber.

Van Cittert-Zernike theorem with Stokes parameters

We formulate the van Cittert-Zernike theorem for spatially incoherent partially polarized sources in terms of the traditional polarization (one-point) Stokes parameters and the coherence (two-point) Stokes parameters. This leads to a physically insightful connection between the source polarization and the field coherence. We show that the far-zone coherence is given by a Fourier relation of the source-plane polarization and apply the results to investigate the far-zone properties of a field emitted by an incoherent source limited by an annular aperture.

Purity of partial polarization in the frequency and time domains

We discuss the properties of fields whose polarization states remain invariant in diffractive devices; in particular, in Young's interferometer. We investigate the conditions for such fields, called pure partially polarized fields, in both the space-time and space-frequency domains and show that the frequency-domain condition is a more general one. We also discuss the relationships of polarization purity and nonquantum entanglement between polarization and spatial (or temporal) correlation.

Maximal polarization order of random optical beams: reversible and irreversible polarization variations

We discuss the degrees of polarization (DoP) of electromagnetic beams in time and frequency domains. The mean spectral DoP corresponds to the maximal temporal DoP when unitary transformations are applied in frequency domain. We demonstrate that random unitary transformations in frequency domain cannot increase the mean spectral DoP, implying that this quantity is a useful measure of the polarization order of light beams. This leads to a classification of time-domain polarization changes into reversible and irreversible processes.

Coherence-polarization mixing in resonance gratings

We show, using rigorous diffraction theory, that resonance gratings can be used to transfer partial spatial correlation to partial polarization even if the incident light beam is fully polarized. The phenomenon is based on the fact that either of the two orthogonal polarization components can be coupled into the leaky waveguide mode, leading to a strong phase delay, while the other one is reflected without being coupled into the grating. Numerical demonstrations are based on a Gaussian Schell-model beam and a grating analysis performed by rigorous Fourier modal method.

Coherence vortices in Mie scattered nonparaxial partially coherent beams

We have previously demonstrated that Mie scattering of partially coherent plane waves can create coherence vortices, namely screw-type dislocations in the phase of the spectral degree of coherence. However, plane waves are an idealization and in practice, optical beams are often much closer to reality. Thus, in this paper, we consider coherence vortices created by Mie scattering of partially coherent focused beams. We demonstrate that Mie scattering of partially coherent complex focused beams can give rise to coherence vortices. As the scattered fields propagate coherence vortex-antivortex pairs are annihilated thus creating hair-pin structures in the coherence-vortex nodal lines. The evolution of correlation singularities in the scattered field with the variation of the complex focus point of the incident beam is also discussed. The variation of the degree of polarization of the scattered field is also studied.

Far-zone polarization distribution properties of partially coherent beams with non-uniform source polarization distributions in turbulent atmosphere

It has already been found that, in turbulent atmosphere, many partially coherent electromagnetic beams with uniform source polarization distributions can regain these distribution patterns in the far field. However, the far-zone polarization properties of beams with non-uniform source polarization distributions are not sufficiently studied and the condition for an electromagnetic beam to reconstruct its source polarization distribution in the far zone is not established. Using a type of electromagnetic anisotropic Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beams which can have non-uniform polarization distributions on the source plane, we find that, under the influence of turbulent atmosphere, the transverse polarization distribution will finally become uniform starting with a non-uniform source polarization distribution, and the far-field degree of polarization is affected by the source intensity parameters, but not by the source spatial coherence parameters. We also find that, electromagnetic anisotropic GSM beams can regain their source polarization patterns in the far field when propagating through atmospheric turbulence if and only if, the two intensity distributions corresponding to the two orthogonal field components on the source plane are the same, or are different only for a constant parameter. The validity of this condition is unaffected by the intensity and spatial coherence profiles on the source plane.

Effect of coherence and polarization on frequency resolution in optical Fourier transforming system

Using an example of vector Gaussian Schell-model beam, we demonstrate and analyze the dependence of the spatial frequency resolution in optical Fourier transforming system on the intrinsic coherence-polarization structure of illumination.

Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect with electromagnetic waves

The classic Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment is analyzed in the space-frequency domain by taking into account the vectorial nature of the radiation. We show that as in scalar theory, the degree of electromagnetic coherence fully characterizes the fluctuations of the photoelectron currents when a random vector field with Gaussian statistics is incident onto the detectors. Interpretation of this result in terms of the modulations of optical intensity and polarization state in two-beam interference is discussed. We demonstrate that the degree of cross-polarization may generally diverge. We also evaluate the effects of the state of polarization on the correlations of intensity fluctuations in various circumstances.

Numerical simulation of partially coherent broadband optical imaging using the finite-difference time-domain method

Rigorous numerical modeling of optical systems has attracted interest in diverse research areas ranging from biophotonics to photolithography. We report the full-vector electromagnetic numerical simulation of a broadband optical imaging system with partially coherent and unpolarized illumination. The scattering of light from the sample is calculated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical method. Geometrical optics principles are applied to the scattered light to obtain the intensity distribution at the image plane. Multilayered object spaces are also supported by our algorithm. For the first time, numerical FDTD calculations are directly compared to and shown to agree well with broadband experimental microscopy results.

Effect of coherence and polarization on resolution of optical imaging system

The effect of coherence properties of illumination on image resolution, well known in a scalar case, is studied for the case of vector electromagnetic illumination. Using an example of vector Gaussian Schell-model illumination, we analyze the dependence of optical system resolution on the transverse correlation lengths of the orthogonal field components and on the ratio of the powers of these components, each taken separately.

Partial spatial coherence and partial polarization in random evanescent fields on lossless interfaces

We consider partial spatial coherence and partial polarization of purely evanescent optical fields generated in total internal reflection at an interface of two dielectric (lossless) media. Making use of the electromagnetic degree of coherence, we show that, in such fields, the coherence length can be notably shorter than the light's vacuum wavelength, especially at a high-index-contrast interface. Physical explanation for this behavior, analogous to the generation of incoherent light in a multimode laser, is provided. We also analyze the degree of polarization by using a recent three-dimensional formulation and show that the field may be partially polarized at a subwavelength distance from the surface even though it is fully polarized farther away. The degree of polarization can assume values unattainable by beamlike fields, indicating that electromagnetic evanescent waves generally are genuine three-dimensional fields. The results can find applications in near-field optics and nanophotonics.

Shifted-elementary-mode representation for partially coherent vectorial fields

A representation of partially spatially coherent and partially polarized stationary electromagnetic fields is given in terms of mutually uncorrelated, transversely shifted, fully coherent, and polarized elementary electric-field modes. This representation allows one to propagate non-paraxial partially coherent vector fields using techniques for spatially fully coherent fields, which are numerically far more efficient than methods for propagating correlation functions. A procedure is given to determine the elementary modes from the radiant intensity and the far-zone polarization properties of the entire field. The method is applied to quasi-homogeneous fields with rotationally symmetric cos(n) theta radiant intensity distributions (theta being the diffraction angle with respect to the optical axis and n being an integer). This is an adequate model for fields emitted by, e.g., many light-emitting diodes.

Experimental generating the partially coherent and partially polarized electromagnetic source

The technique for generating the partially coherent and partially polarized source starting from the completely coherent and completely polarized laser source is proposed and analyzed. This technique differs from the known ones by the simplicity of its physical realization. The efficiency of the proposed technique is illustrated with the results of physical experiment in which an original technique for characterizing the coherence and polarization properties of the generated source is employed.

Partially correlated thin annular sources: the vectorial case

We develop an electromagnetic analysis for partially correlated thin annular sources. The elements of the correlation matrix are assumed to depend only on the angular distance between two typical points. For any such source, we show how the modal expansion can be found. Correlation changes upon free propagation are discussed. Further, examples and possible synthesis schemes are presented.

Experimental study of the relation between the degrees of coherence in space-time and space-frequency domain

We present an experimental study showing the effect of the change in the bandwidth of light on the magnitude of both the complex degree of coherence and the spectral degree of coherence at a pair of points in the cross-section of a beam. A variable bandwidth source with a Young's interferometer is utilized to produce the interference fringes. We also report for the first time that if the field is quasi-monochromatic or sufficiently narrowband, the elements of both the beam coherence polarization matrix and the cross-spectral density matrix, normalized to intensities (spectral densities) at the two points possess identical values.

Cross-spectral purity of electromagnetic fields

We extend Mandel's scalar-wave concept of cross-spectral purity to electromagnetic fields. We show that in the electromagnetic case, assumptions similar to the scalar cross-spectral purity lead to a reduction formula, analogous with the one introduced by Mandel. We also derive a condition that shows that the absolute value of the normalized zeroth two-point Stokes parameter of two cross-spectrally pure electromagnetic fields is the same for every frequency component of the field. In analogy with the scalar theory we further introduce a measure of the cross-spectral purity of two electromagnetic fields, namely, the degree of electromagnetic cross-spectral purity.

Focusing of spatially inhomogeneous partially coherent, partially polarized electromagnetic fields

We report a general framework capable of describing the focusing of electromagnetic waves with spatially varying coherence and polarization properties in optical systems of arbitrary numerical aperture and Fresnel number. We also investigate the reduction of the dimensionality of the requisite integrals by use of a coherent mode expansion. We find that coherent mode expansions treating each component of the electric field vector individually are unsuitable for describing focusing systems because of the inter-component mixing that can occur in high numerical aperture systems. In addition, we show that the assumption of harmonic angular dependence allows the azimuthal integration to be performed analytically, providing further simplification of the analysis. We also find that the effective degree of spectral coherence of an electromagnetic beam is unchanged upon focusing. Finally, as an illustration of the developed framework, we calculate the transverse and axial focal distributions for a partially coherent source formed by incoherent superposition of radially and azimuthally polarized Laguerre-Gauss modes.

Two-point Stokes parameters: interpretation and properties

Whereas the classic Stokes parameters are measures of intensity, the recently introduced two-point Stokes parameters characterize spatial coherence. It is shown that in analogy to the Stokes parameters, the two-point parameters have a physical interpretation as sums and differences of (scalar) cross-spectral density functions of specific electric-field components. A measurement scheme and several physical consequences of the two-point parameters are discussed.