Abstract
The description of a plane wave diffracted by a circular aperture is directly started from the Maxwell's equations. Based on the vector angular spectrum representation of Maxwell's equations, the diffracted plane wave is decomposed into the TE and TM terms. The analytical TE and TM terms in the far field are presented by stationary phase. As the TE and TM terms are orthogonal to each other in the far field, their sum constitutes the so-called Airy disc pattern. Therefore, this research reveals the composition of Airy disc, which is beneficial to deepen and enhance the recognition of the classical diffraction problem.
© 2008 Chinese Optics Letters
PDF Article
More Like This
Cited By
You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an Optica member, or as an authorized user of your institution.
Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Login to access Optica Member Subscription