Jani Tervo

Degree of coherence for electromagnetic fields

The relationship between the visibility of fringes and the degree of spatial coherence in electromagnetic two-pinhole interference is assessed. It is demonstrated that the customary definition of the degree of coherence of an electromagnetic field is flawed and a new quantity, free of the formal drawbacks, is introduced. The new definition, which is shown to be consistent with known results for Gaussian statistics, has some unusual properties characteristic only for electromagnetic fields. The degree of coherence is measurable by a sequence of interference experiments.

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

We construct the coherent-mode representation for fluctuating, statistically stationary electromagnetic fields. The modes are shown to be spatially fully coherent in the sense of a recently introduced spectral degree of electromagnetic coherence. We also prove that the electric cross-spectral density tensor can be rigorously expressed as a correlation tensor averaged over an appropriate ensemble of strictly monochromatic vectorial wave functions. The formalism is demonstrated for partially polarized, partially coherent Gaussian Schell-model beams, but the theory applies to arbitrary random electromagnetic fields and can find applications in radiation and propagation and in inverse problems.

Paraxial-domain diffractive elements with 100% efficiency based on polarization gratings

The concept of polarization freedom is employed to design diffraction gratings that are capable of transforming an electromagnetic plane wave into two or three diffraction orders with an arbitrary efficiency distribution among them, such that the combined efficiency of the signal orders is always equal to 100%. As a special case we consider paraxial-domain duplicators and triplicators with 100% efficiency, which is not possible for illumination by scalar waves: Diffractive elements that are capable of performing the required wave transformation must modulate the state of polarization of the incident field.

Complete electromagnetic coherence in the space-frequency domain

We show that the following properties of a random electromagnetic field are equivalent: (i) the field is spatially completely coherent in the sense of the recently introduced electromagnetic degree of coherence and (ii) the electric cross-spectral density tensor factors in the two spatial variables.

Stokes parameters and polarization contrasts in Young's interference experiment

We derive a spectral interference law that governs the behavior of the four Stokes parameters in Youngs two-pinhole experiment with a random electromagnetic beam. In addition to the visibility of intensity fringes, we introduce three new contrast parameters that describe the interference-induced changes in the fields state of partial polarization. The polarization modulation depends on the electric field correlations at the pinholes and is closely related to the two-point Stokes parameters. The results are expected to be particularly useful in polarization interferometry and electromagnetic coherence theory. The formalism is demonstrated with specific examples.

Contrasts of Stokes parameters in Young's interference experiment and electromagnetic degree of coherence

We analyze the modulation of the Stokes parameters in Youngs two-pinhole interference experiment with a random electromagnetic beam. We demonstrate that the electromagnetic (spectral) degree of coherence put forward in Opt. Lett.29, 328 (2004) [or its space-time analog in Opt. Express 11, 1137 (2003)] is physically related to the contrasts of modulation in the four Stokes parameters. More explicitly, the electromagnetic degree of coherence is a measure of both the visibility of the intensity fringes and the modulation contrasts of the three polarization Stokes parameters. We also show that by using suitable wave plates the modulation in any Stokes parameter can be transformed into the form of intensity variation, and hence the electromagnetic degree of coherence can be obtained experimentally by four visibility measurements.

Theory of spatially and spectrally partially coherent pulses

A coherent-mode representation for spatially and spectrally partially coherent pulses is derived both in the space-frequency domain and in the space-time domain. It is shown that both the cross-spectral density and the mutual coherence function of partially coherent pulses can be expressed as a sum of spatially and spectrally and temporally completely coherent modes. The concept of the effective degree of coherence for nonstationary fields is introduced. As an application of the theory, the propagation of Gaussian Schell-model pulsed beams in the space-frequency domain is considered and their coherent-mode representation is presented.

Spectral coherence properties of temporally modulated stationary light sources

It is shown that partially spectrally coherent pulses of light with controlled spectral coherence properties can be generated by temporal modulation of beams emitted by stationary light sources. A method for generation of spectrally Gaussian Schell-model-type pulses is presented.

Overall coherence and coherent-mode expansion of spectrally partially coherent plane-wave pulses.

The modal theory for spectrally partially coherent nonstationary plane waves is introduced. The theory is first developed in the space-frequency domain and then extended to the space-time domain. Propagation properties of the coherent modes are analyzed. The concept of the overall degree of coherence is extended to the domain of nonstationary fields, and it is shown that the overall degree of coherence of partially coherent plane-wave pulses is the same in the space-frequency and space-time domains. The theory is applied to the recently introduced concept of spectrally Gaussian Schell-model plane-wave pulses.

Generation of vectorial propagation-invariant fields by polarization-grating axicons

An approach based on a combination of generalized polarization gratings and diffractive axicons is introduced for transforming an electromagnetic plane wave into a conical wave that exhibits the property of approximate propagation invariance. The method of stationary phase is used to show that our approach permits the generation of, e.g., radially and azimuthally polarized Bessel fields.