Abstract

The overall spatial structure of a general partially coherent field is shown to be connected with the cross-correlation between the so-called spiral modes, understood as the terms of the spiral-harmonics series expansion of the field. The formalism based on the beam irradiance-moments is used, and the light field is globally described by the beam width, the far-field divergence, the beam quality factor, the orientation of the beam profile and the angular orbital momentum, given as the sum of its asymmetrical and vortex parts. This overall spatial description is expressed in terms of the intermodal coherence features (cross-correlation between spiral modes). The above analytical results are also illustrated by means of an example.

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History
Original Manuscript: June 10, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: September 8, 2009
Revised Manuscript: July 20, 2009
Published: October 19, 2009

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Author Affiliations

R. Martínez-Herrero, P. M. Mejías

Departamento de Óptica, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040-Madrid, Spain

A. Manjavacas

Instituto de Óptica, CSIC, Serrano 121, 28006-Madrid, Spain

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