title: Coherent-mode decomposition of partially polarized, partially coherent sources.
abstract: It is shown that any partially polarized, partially coherent source can be expressed in terms of a suitable superposition of transverse coherent modes with orthogonal polarization states. Such modes are determined through the solution of a system of two coupled integral equations. An example, for which the modal decomposition is obtained in closed form in terms of fully linearly polarized Hermite Gaussian modes, is given.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, 1-00146 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gori
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santarsiero
authors.forename: Raja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piquero
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borghi
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guattari