Abstract

The far-field diffraction pattern of a geometrically perfect corner reflector is examined analytically for normally incident monochromatic light. The states of polarization and the complex amplitudes of the emerging light are expressed, by use of transformation matrices, in terms of those of the original incident light for each sextant of the face in a single coordinate system. The analytic expression of the total diffraction pattern is obtained for a circular face. This expression consists of three component functions in addition to the basic Airy function. The coefficient of each function is expressed in terms of complex coefficients of reflectance of the reflecting surface. Some numerical results for different reflecting surfaces, including total internal reflection, are presented. The iso-irradiance contours of the diffraction pattern evaluated from the analytical expressions for an uncoated solid corner reflector are also presented, along with photographs of the pattern.

© 1971 Optical Society of America

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Simple Model of Corner Reflector Phenomena

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Complex Rays with an Application to Gaussian Beams

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