Synthesis of longitudinal coherence functions by spatial modulation of an extended light source: a new interpretation and experimental verifications.
Giving a new physical interpretation to the principle of longitudinal coherence control, we propose an improved method for synthesizing a spatial coherence function along the longitudinal axis of light propagation. By controlling the irradiance of an extended quasi-monochromatic spatially incoherent source with a spatial light modulator, we generated a special optical field that exhibits high coherence selectively for a specific pair of points at specified locations along the axis of beam propagation. This function of longitudinal coherence control provides new possibilities for dispersion-free measurements in optical tomography and profilometry. A quantitative experimental proof of principle is presented.
Wang
Wei
W
Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui.
Kozaki
Hirokazu
H
Rosen
Joseph
J
Takeda
Mitsuo
M