Unified approach to paraxial propagation in uniform media and media with linear or quadratic refractive index distribution

TL;DR

This paper presents explicit equations and matrix methods for modeling paraxial light propagation across different media, including free space, linear, and quadratic refractive index distributions, simplifying calculations in optical physics.

Contribution

It introduces a unified mathematical framework for paraxial propagation in various media, enabling easier and more accurate computations.

Findings

Derived explicit equations for each medium type

Developed matrix representations for propagation calculations

Simplified the process of modeling light in complex media

Abstract

We report explicit equations and matrix representations that allow simple calculation between three different media (free space, linear and quadratic refractive index distributions) for paraxial light propagation.