Symmetry properties of focused fields.
It is shown that under very general conditions monochromatic scalar wave fields that have a focus in the sense of geometrical optics possess some simple symmetry properties with respect to the focus. Certain well-known but poorly understood symmetry properties of the three-dimensional amplitude distribution and phase distribution in the focal region of a uniform converging spherical wave diffracted at a circular aperture are found to be immediate consequences of our results.
Collett
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US Army ERADCOM, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey 07703, USA.
Wolf
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