We obtain the space-time autocorrelation function for a reverberation model that is constructed by the superposition of elementary signals. This is done by defining a four-dimensional Wigner spectrum which is a function of space, wavenumber, position and frequency.
We formulate a noise reverberation model that involves propagation effects. This is in contrast to the standard model where the amplitude and phase are taken to be random variables and propagation effects are not taken into account. The noise obtained is nonstationary and we show that an effective way to formulate the noise reverberation model is in phase space wherein the phase space function is taken to be the Wigner spectrum. The Wigner spectrum is the ensemble average of the Wigner distribution.
We discuss a number of topics relevant to noise propagation in dispersive media. We formulate the problem of pulse propagation with a source term in phase space and show that a four dimensional Wigner distribution is required. The four dimensional Wigner distribution is that of space and time and also wavenumber and frequency. The four dimensional Wigner spectrum is equivalent to the space-time autocorrelation function. We also apply the quantum path method to improve the phase space approximation previously obtained. In addition we discuss motion in a Snell’s law medium.
The Wigner distribution function of an optical signal, which can be considered as the momentary temporal and local spatial spectrum of the signal, is defined. Equations are derived which describe the transport of the Wigner distribution function in a medium, e.g. a plasma, that is weakly inhomogeneous in space and time, and exhibits weak dispersion for the temporal as well as the spatial frequency variable. The transport equations are compared with the eikonal equation in geometrical optics giving, as a geometrical-optical formulation of the transport equations, that along the path of a geometrical-optical light ray the Wigner distribution function has a constant value.
This tutorial gives an overview of the use of the Wigner function as a tool for modeling optical field propagation. Particular emphasis is placed on the spatial propagation of stationary fields, as well as on the propagation of pulses through dispersive media. In the first case, the Wigner function gives a representation of the field that is similar to a radiance or weight distribution for all the rays in the system, since its arguments are both position and direction. In cases in which the field is paraxial and where the system is described by a simple linear relation in the ray regime, the Wigner function is constant under propagation along rays. An equivalent property holds for optical pulse propagation in dispersive media under analogous assumptions. Several properties and applications of the Wigner function in these contexts are discussed, as is its connection with other common phase-space distributions like the ambiguity function, the spectrogram, and the Husimi, P, Q, and Kirkwood–Rihaczek functions. Also discussed are modifications to the definition of the Wigner function that allow extending the property of conservation along paths to a wider range of problems, including nonparaxial field propagation and pulse propagation within general transparent dispersive media.
The description of a signal by means of a local frequency spec-trum resembles such things as the score in music, the phase space in mechanics, and the ray concept in geometrical optics. Two types of local frequency spectra are presented: the Wigner distribution function and the sliding-window spectrum, the latter having the form of a cross-ambiguity function. The Wigner distribution function in particular can provide a link between Fourier optics and geometrical optics; many properties of the Wigner distribution function, and the way in which it prop-agates through linear systems, can be interpreted in geometric-optical terms. The Wigner distribution function is linearly related to other signal representations like Woodward's ambiguity function, Rihaczek's complex energy density function, and Mark's physical spectrum. An advantage of the Wigner distribution function and its related signal representations is that they can be applied not only to deterministic signals but to stochastic signals as well, leading to such things as Walther's generalized radiance and Sudarshan's Wolf tensor. On the other hand, the sliding-window spectrum has the advantage that a sampling theorem can be formulated for it: the sliding-window spectrum is completely determined by its values at the points of a certain space-frequency lattice, which is exactly the lattice suggested by Gabor in 1946. The sliding-window spectrum thus leads naturally to Gabor's expansion of a signal into a discrete set of properly shifted and modulated versions of an elementary signal, which is again another space-frequency signal representation, and which is related to the degrees of freedom of the signal.
Euclidean systems include poly- and monochromatic wide-angle optics, acoustics, and also infinite discrete data sets. We use a recently defined Wigner operator and (quasiprobability) distribution function to set up and study the phase-space evolution of these models, subject to differential and difference equations, respectively. Infinite data sets and two-dimensional monochromatic (Helmholtz) fields are thus shown by their Wigner function on a cylinder of direction and location; the Wigner function for polychromatic wavefields has ` c -number' coordinates of (two-dimensional) wavenumber and position.