title: Calculation of prolate functions for optical analysis.
abstract: The linear and circular prolate functions are basis sets for the bare cavity eigenmodes of stable and unstable laser resonators having rectangular or circular symmetry. Early calculations of these functions used power series expansions. A matrix technique which was first used by Sanderson and Streifer is used here to demonstrate rapid and accurate numerical calculations of prolate functions.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Latham
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Tilton