title: Every Fourier optical system is equivalent to consecutive fractional-Fourier-domain filtering.
abstract: We consider optical systems composed of an arbitrary number of lenses and filters, separated by arbitrary distances, under the standard approximations of Fourier optics. We show that every such system is equivalent to (i) consecutive filtering operations in several fractional Fourier domains and (ii) consecutive filtering operations alternately in the space and the frequency domains.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ozaktas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mendlovic