title: Synthesis of electromagnetic Schell-model sources.
abstract: A procedure for the synthesis of the most general electromagnetic Schell-model light source is proposed. It makes use of the generalized van Cittert-Zernike theorem to produce the electromagnetic source starting from a primary spatially incoherent source, characterized by a suitable position-dependent polarization matrix. By resorting to the spectral decomposition of the polarization matrix, it is shown how such an incoherent source can be synthesized by using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, with suitable amplitude transmittances placed in its arms, fed by two mutually uncorrelated laser beams. Examples are given for the case of electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model sources.
authors.affiliation: Università Roma Tre, Dipartimento di Fisica, and CNISM, Via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146 Rome, Italy. santarsiero@fisuniroma3.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santarsiero
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borghi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Sánchez