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Physical Review A

Spectral invariance and scaling law for nonstationary optical fields

Chaoliang Ding, Matias Koivurova, Tero Setälä, Jari P. Turunen, Ari T. Friberg

Published Mar 9, 2020• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We develop a scaling law for a class of statistically nonstationary scalar optical fields, which ensures spectral invariance on their propagation into the far zone of a planar source. The invariance involves the constraint that the normalized far-zone spectrum must be the same in every direction of observation, as well as equal to the normalized area-averaged source spectrum. Thus, it additionally represents an extension of the earlier work by Wolf on stationary fields [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1370 (1986)] that assumed the normalized source spectrum as independent of position. We present examples of both nonstationary and stationary fields that satisfy the scaling law and extended spectral invariance.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.101.033808

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We develop a scaling law for a class of statistically nonstationary scalar optical fields, which ensures spectral invariance on their propagation into the far zone of a planar source. The invariance involves the constraint that the normalized far-zone spectrum must be the same in every direction of observation, as well as equal to the normalized area-averaged source spectrum. Thus, it additionally represents an extension of the earlier work by Wolf on stationary fields [Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1370 (1986)] that assumed the normalized source spectrum as independent of position. We present examples of both nonstationary and stationary fields that satisfy the scaling law and extended spectral invariance.
The concept of cross-spectral purity of light, established by Mandel for stationary optical fields, is extended to nonstationary fields. Separability conditions that ensure the cross-spectral purity of nonstationary light are derived in the space-frequency and space-time domains. It is also shown that the property of cross-spectral purity is not strictly preserved on propagation of fields with any appreciable spectral bandwidth. Further, we introduce a method for generating cross-spectrally pure (stationary and nonstationary) fields from spatially incoherent light sources by means of achromatic Fourier-transform systems.
Statistical correlations of the light emitted by a partially coherent source can produce frequency shifts in the spectrum observed in the far field if the correlation function of the emitted radiation does not satisfy a certain scaling law. A Fourier achromat is used to generate a secondary source in which the degree of spectral coherence is independent of wavelength; i.e., it violates the scaling law. The spectrum detected in the far zone of the secondary source is, in general, found to be displaced in frequency and distorted relative to the spectrum measured at the secondary source. The displacement can be toward the higher frequencies or the lower frequencies depending on the direction of observation.
There is an implicit assumption in all of spectroscopy that the relative energy distribution in the spectrum of radiation which propagates in free space is independent of the location of the observer, provided that the observer and the source are at rest relative to each other. That this assumption is not valid, in general, was suggested by the results of an investigation of Mandel111, carried out almost thirty years ago. Mandel showed that when light beams from two small correlated sources which have the same normalized spectra are superposed, the normalized spectrum in the region of superposition will differ, in general, from the normalized spectrum of each source. More recently it was predicted theoretically2 and confirmed experimentally soon therwards3 that the normalized spectrum of light produced by an extended source, will, in general, differ from the normalized source spectrum (assumed to be the same at every source point); and that it will depend on the location of the point of observation. The spectral changes were shown to depend on the correlation properties of the source.
An energy conservation law is derived for fields generated by random, statistically stationary, scalar sources of any state of coherence. It is shown that correlation-induced spectral changes are in strict agreement with this law and that, basic to the understanding of such changes, is a distinction that must be made between the spectrum of a source and the spectrum of the field that the source generates. This distinction, which is obviously relevant for spectroscopy, does not appear to have been previously recognized. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
This thesis contains research related to random light fields.In particular, novel constructions of electromagnetic coherence in beam fields are introduced, and certain fundamental notions concerning the spectrum of light are assessed in the context of nonstationary fields.The singular-value decomposition (SVD) of the cross-spectral density matrix (CSDM) is analysed and interpreted for electromagnetic beams.In addition, the Gram matrix of the CSDM is invoked and combined with the SVD formalism.The Gram matrix shares the essential properties of the polarization matrix, thus appearing as a particularly potential descriptor of electromagnetic coherence.The SVD and the Gram matrix yield results analogous to those traditionally met in polarization theory of beam fields, but in the context of two-point spatial coherence analysis.In particular, two-point analogies of the usual decompositions of the polarization matrix are introduced by applying the SVD.In addition, the Poincaré sphere representation of electromagnetic coherence is established, which is analogous to the traditional Poincaré sphere in polarization optics.Cross-spectral purity and spectral invariance of light are two fundamental concepts concerning stationary random light fields, which were recently generalized to nonstationary fields.In this thesis, a reduction formula for time-integrated coherence functions of cross-spectrally pure nonstationary scalar fields is established.This reduction formula is an equivalent condition for the physical definition of crossspectral purity in nonstationary fields, similarly to the reducibility met in the case of cross-spectrally pure stationary light.In addition, optical systems consisting of hybrid refractive-diffractive lens designs which transform partially coherent isodiffracting pulsed beams into cross-spectrally pure or spectrally invariant nonstationary fields are developed.Furthermore, polarimetric measurement of temporal coherence in electromagnetic beam fields is performed.It is shown that the electromagnetic temporal degree of coherence can be deduced from these measurements, thus without the need for visibility detection or optical elements in the arms of the device, in contrast to earlier studies.