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.

Radar cross section of rectangular flat plates as a function of aspect angle

Abstract: An investigation of the scattering from rectangular flat plates has been carried out to determine analytical formulations suitable for the estimation of radar cross section. Simple physical optics theory provides an accurate means of predicting the near-specular values of plate cross section but fails to account for polarization dependence and detailed shape of the cross section vs. angle curve in nonspecular regions. Calculations based upon the geometrical theory of diffraction show excellent agreement with measured data except at edge-on aspects. This correspondence stems, in part, from the fact that the geometrical theory of diffraction is polarization dependent. The paper is concluded with an analytical description of vertical polarization cross section at the edge-on aspect derived on the basis of measurement data.

Classical and quantum properties of cylindrically polarized states of light

Abstract: We investigate theoretical properties of beams of light with non-uniform polarization patterns. Specifically, we determine all possible configurations of cylindrically polarized modes (CPMs) of the electromagnetic field, calculate their total angular momentum and highlight the subtleties of their structure. Furthermore, a hybrid spatio-polarization description for such modes is introduced and developed. In particular, two independent Poincare spheres have been introduced to represent simultaneously the polarization and spatial degree of freedom of CPMs. Possible mode-to-mode transformations accomplishable with the help of Bconventional polarization and spatial phase retarders are shown within this representation. Moreover, the importance of these CPMs in the quantum optics domain due to their classical features is highlighted.

A generalized diffraction synthesis technique for high performance reflector antennas

Abstract: Stringent requirements on reflector antenna performances in modern applications such as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) communications, radar systems, and radio astronomy have demanded the development of sophisticated synthesis techniques. Presented in the paper is a generalized diffraction synthesis technique for single- and dual-reflector antennas fed by either a single feed or an array feed. High versatility and accuracy are achieved by combining optimization procedures and diffraction analysis such as physical optics (PO) and physical theory of diffraction (PTD). With this technique, one may simultaneously shape the reflector surfaces and adjust the positions, orientations, and excitations of an arbitrarily configured array feed to produce the specified radiation characteristics such as high directivity, contoured patterns, and low sidelobe levels, etc. The shaped reflectors are represented by a set of orthogonal global expansion functions (the Jacobi-Fourier expansion), and are characterized by smooth surfaces, well-defined (superquadric) circumferences, and continuous surface derivatives. The sample applications of contoured beam antenna designs and reflector surface distortion compensation are given to illustrate the effectiveness of this diffraction synthesis technique. >

Ray tracing with PO/PTD for RCS modeling of large complex objects

Abstract: The present paper deals with a new efficient approach in order to assess the simulation of scattered fields from arbitrary metallic objects. The basic idea is to combine a ray tracing algorithm with the principles of physical optics (PO) and the physical theory of diffraction (PTD). The ray tracing algorithm stochastically launches discrete rays and uses a ray density normalization. In order to perform simulations at finite objects the PO/PTD formulation is required. Thus, fast intersection routines can be implemented, while the ray density formulation reduces the PO and PTD integrals to a pure sum of ray contributions. Simulation results obtained with this model are verified by comparison with both exact simulations using a method of moments (MoM) code and measurement results, proving an excellent accuracy and fast computation even at complex objects. With this asymptotic approach, scattering properties of large objects that are too complex for exact methods can be analyzed with rather moderate computation efforts. Typical applications include the simulation of low observability (LO) designs as well as the generation of databases for identifying unknown aircraft by their radar signature.

Geometrical optics in correlated imaging systems

Abstract: We discuss the geometrical optics of correlated imaging for two kinds of spatial correlations corresponding, respectively, to a classical thermal light source and a quantum two-photon entangled source. Due to the different features in the second-order spatial correlation, the two sources obey different imaging equations. The quantum entangled source behaves as a mirror, whereas the classical thermal source looks like a phase-conjugate mirror in the correlated imaging.