Modelling of partially coherent radiation based on the coherent mode decomposition

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method for modeling partially coherent radiation by decomposing it into coherent modes, propagating each mode individually, and then recombining them to analyze the coherence after propagation.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach combining coherent mode decomposition with wavefront propagation to efficiently model partially coherent radiation.

Findings

Effective propagation of partially coherent radiation demonstrated

Application to circular aperture transmission analyzed

Method enables detailed coherence property predictions

Abstract

We present a method for the propagation of partially coherent radiation using coherent mode decomposition and wavefront propagation. The radiation field is decomposed into a sum of independent coherent modes. Each mode is then propagated separately using conventional wavefront propagation techniques. The summation of these modes in the plane of observation gives the coherence properties of the propagated radiation. As an example, we analyze propagation of partially coherent radiation transmitted through a single circular aperture.