Phase space descriptions of pulses in 1D transparent dispersive media are presented. Unlike the standard Wigner function, spatial propagation/temporal evolution is described exactly by a free-particle-like transformation (e.g. phase space shearing) for any dispersion relation.
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.
We apply quasi-distribution methods developed for quantum mechanics to the propagation of pulses in dispersive media with attenuation. We show that a Schrödinger type equation follows for propagation of the pulse for each mode. One then transforms the equation to obtain an equation of evolution in the phase space of position and wavenumber. In this paper we emphasize windowed wave functions and their corresponding phase space quasi-distributions. We obtain the time evolution equation, discuss possible approximations, and compare to the Wigner distribution approximation previously derived by Loughlin and Cohen by different methods.
Free propagation in continuous optical and mechanical systems is generated by the momentum-squared operator and results in a shear of the phase space plane along the position coordinate. We examine three discrete versions of the Fresnel transform in periodic systems through their Wigner function on a toroidal phase space. But since it is topologically impossible to continuously and globally shear a torus, we examine a fourth version of the Fresnel transform on a spherical phase space, in a model based on the Lie algebra of angular momentum, where the corresponding Fresnel transform wrings the sphere.