Physical optics

About: Physical optics is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5342 publications have been published within this topic receiving 101388 citations. The topic is also known as: wave optics.

Geometrical optics calculation of inelastic scattering on large particles

Abstract: A geometrical optics approximation was used for calculations of inelastic (Raman and fluorescent) scattering on particles with large size parameters. The inelastic part of the radiation was obtained by use of the principle of ray reversibility. The technique presented simplifies the computations and provides a geometric interpretation of how far-field patterns can be calculated by use of the internal field distributions. The numerical results for homogeneous spherical particles are compared with the classic dipole solution.

Phase-space interferences as the source of negative values of the Wigner distribution function

Abstract: It is shown that the negative values of the Wigner distribution function in classical optics are a consequence of the phase-space interference among the Gaussian beams into which an arbitrary light distribution (or a superposition of light distributions) can be decomposed. These elementary Gaussian beams partition the phase space in wave optics in adjacent, interacting, finite-area cells, in contrast to geometrical optics, where the phase space is continuous and a light beam can be decomposed into a number of perfectly localized, non-interacting rays.

Generation of nearly nondiffracting bessel beams with a fabry-perot interferometer

Abstract: A new concept for generating zero-order Bessel beams was studied theoretically. The spatial intensity distribution was calculated numerically using a wave optics model. Approximate analytical expressions were derived to describe the radial intensity distribution in planes perpendicular to the optical axis of an imaging lens.

Role of semiclassical description in the quantumlike theory of light rays.

Abstract: An alternative procedure to the one by Gloge and Marcuse [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59, 1629 (1969)] for performing the transition from geometrical optics to wave optics in the paraxial approximation is presented. This is done by employing a recent "deformation" method used to give a quantumlike phase-space description of charged-particle-beam transport in the semiclassical approximation. By taking into account the uncertainty relation (diffraction limit) that holds between the transverse-beam-spot size and the rms of the light-ray slopes, the classical phase-space equation for light rays is deformed into a von Neumann-like equation that governs the phase-space description of the beam transport in the semiclassical approximation. Here, Planck's constant and the time are replaced by the inverse of the wave number, not lambda, and the propagation coordinate, respectively. In this framework, the corresponding Wigner-like picture is given and the quantumlike corrections for an arbitrary refractive index are considered. In particular, it is shown that the paraxial-radiation-beam transport can also be described in terms of a fluid motion equation, where the pressure term is replaced by a quantumlike potential in the semiclassical approximation that accounts for the diffraction of the beam. Finally, a comparison of this fluid model with Madelung's fluid model is made, and the classical-like picture given by the tomographic approach to radiation beams is advanced as a future perspective.