Topic
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.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a new conceptual approach unifies the seemingly disparate fields of linear and nonlinear waves, and linear physics is shown to be the natural way to approach nonlinear wave optics.
Abstract: A new conceptual approach unifies the seemingly disparate fields of linear and nonlinear waves. Linear physics is shown to be the natural way to approach nonlinear wave optics. It generates the fundamental equations, allows for unforeseen generalizations and, through physical insight, motivates novel phenomena.
54 citations
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TL;DR: A study of when geometrical optics may be employed to model the system in order to avoid the need to perform a computationally expensive wave optics calculation and conclusions regarding the general applicability of the geometric optics approximation are drawn.
Abstract: X-ray phase contrast imaging is a very promising technique which may lead to significant advancements in medical imaging. One of the impediments to the clinical implementation of the technique is the general requirement to have an x-ray source of high coherence. The radiation physics group at UCL is currently developing an x-ray phase contrast imaging technique which works with laboratory x-ray sources. Validation of the system requires extensive modelling of relatively large samples of tissue. To aid this, we have undertaken a study of when geometrical optics may be employed to model the system in order to avoid the need to perform a computationally expensive wave optics calculation. In this paper, we derive the relationship between the geometrical and wave optics model for our system imaging an infinite cylinder. From this model we are able to draw conclusions regarding the general applicability of the geometrical optics approximation.
53 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a new technique to compute the physical optics integral is presented, which consists of a blind code that computes the different contributions (stationary phase points, end points, etc.) numerically.
Abstract: A new technique to compute the physical optics (PO) integral is presented. The technique consists of a blind code that computes the different contributions (stationary phase points, end points, etc.) numerically. This technique is based on a decomposition of the surface into small triangles and a fast evaluation of each triangle by means of a deformation of the integration path in the complex plane. This algorithm permits a fast and accurate evaluation of the PO integral for smooth large surfaces. The CPU time is almost independent of frequency.
53 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, a complete ray theory of reflection from the illuminated portion of a smooth object with inflection points must include specularly reflected real as well as complex rays, with the latter originating from the complex extension of the surface contour.
Abstract: Reflection from a smooth target with inflection points, when investigated by the physical optics method, reveals far-zone contributions arising from real and complex stationary points. The former represent conventional specularly reflected real-ray fields whereas the latter, which are nonspecular in real space, can be interpreted as complex-ray fields reflected specularly from the complex extension of the scatterer surface. To explain the nonspecular contributions, the complex stationary point fields are regarded as specular reflections of complex incident rays from the analytic extension of the boundary into a complex coordinate space. It is verified that this construction using complex geometrical optics is in complete agreement with physical optics asymptotics and that the complex reflection points for far-zone fields lie near the concave-to-convex transitions on the physical contour. Numerical results supporting the validity of this assertion are provided. It is concluded, therefore, that a complete ray theory of reflection from the illuminated portion of a smooth object with inflection points must include specularly reflected real as well as complex rays, with the latter originating from the complex extension of the surface contour. >
53 citations