Phase singularities, correlation singularities, and conditions for complete destructive interference

A previously derived condition for the complete destructive interference of partially coherent light emerging from a trio of pinholes in an opaque screen is generalized to the case when the coherence properties of the field are asymmetric. It is shown by example that the interference condition is ne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision Vol. 29; no. 4; p. 410
Main Authors Rosenbury, Christopher, Gu, Yalong, Gbur, Greg
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.04.2012
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Summary:A previously derived condition for the complete destructive interference of partially coherent light emerging from a trio of pinholes in an opaque screen is generalized to the case when the coherence properties of the field are asymmetric. It is shown by example that the interference condition is necessary, but not sufficient, and that the existence of complete destructive interference also depends on the intensity of light emerging from the pinholes and the system geometry; more general conditions for such interference are derived. The phase of the wave field exhibits both phase singularities and correlation singularities, and a number of nonintuitive situations in which complete destructive interference occurs are described and explained.
ISSN:1520-8532
DOI:10.1364/JOSAA.29.000410