Modified angular spectrum algorithm for the propagation of partially coherent beams in optical systems

Abstract

A modified angular spectrum algorithm is presented for the diffraction calculation of partially coherent beams propagating in optical systems. The proposed algorithm can directly calculate the cross-spectral density of partially coherent beams at each surface of the optical system and possesses much higher computational efficiency for low coherent beams compared with that of the common modal expansion methods. Then, a Gaussian–Schell model beam propagating in a double-lens array homogenizer system is introduced to carry out a numerical simulation. Results show that the proposed algorithm can obtain an identical intensity distribution as the selected modal expansion method but with a much higher speed, thus verifying its accuracy and high efficiency. However, it’s worth noting that the proposed algorithm is only suitable to the optical systems in which the partially coherent beams and optical components have no coupling effects in the x and y directions and can be dealt with individually.