Propagation of low-coherence fields in inhomogeneous media

Yu. A. Sinitsyn, I. V. Shcherbinin

W. J. Firth

Ashiqur Rahman

George L. Lamb

David Barral, Jesús Liñares

We study the propagation of quantum states of light in separable longitudinally inhomogeneous waveguides based on the momentum operator. This is carried out in the optical field-strength space E by means of the optical propagator obtained by the path integral formalism. We analyze virtual squeezing appearing in these media and its effect on quantum states of light, that is, Gouy’s quantum phases depending on both the longitudinal inhomogeneity and the quantum state. In addition, it is justified that these media perform unitary Infeld–Plebanski transformations, thus avoiding real squeezing. Likewise, WKB and exact results are presented for the propagation of coherent and squeezed states of light and, additionally, Bessel–Gauss quantum states of light propagating in a power-law parametric family of longitudinally inhomogeneous waveguides are studied in detail.

Vadim V. Dudorov, В. В. Колосов, O. A. Kolosova

Based on the equation for the second-order coherence function, the propagation of partially coherent radiation is studied under the combined action of diffraction and refraction caused by the inhomogeneous distribution of the real and imaginary parts of the perturbation of the permittivity of a medium in the case of inhomogeneous absorption (amplification). The limits of application of the method of geometrical optics for inhomogeneously absorbing (amplifying) media are studied, as well as of the methods that neglect refraction caused by the inhomogeneous distribution of the imaginary part of the permittivity of the medium.