Abstract

This paper continues the study initiated by B. Karczewski and E. Wolf concerning the comparison of three theories of electromagnetic diffraction at an aperture. The general case of a partially polarized incident field is investigated, and the degree of polarization of the diffracted field, as predicted by three theories, is expressed as a function of the degree of polarization of the incident field. The results obtained by Karczewski and Wolf are shown to hold in the limiting cases.

© 1966 Optical Society of America

Comparison of Three Theories of Electromagnetic Diffraction at an Aperture.* Part II: The Far Field

B. Karczewski and E. Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(9) 1214-1219 (1966)

Comparison of Three Theories of Electromagnetic Diffraction at an Aperture.* Part I: Coherence Matrices

B. Karczewski and E. Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(9) 1207-1214 (1966)

Reciprocity Theorems in Various Theories of Diffraction*

A. Kujawski
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(5) 592-595 (1966)

Consistent Formulation of Kirchhoff’s Diffraction Theory*

E. W. Marchand and E. Wolf
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(12) 1712-1721 (1966)

Diffraction by Apertures Illuminated with Partially Coherent Light*

Robert A. Shore, Brian J. Thompson, and Robert E. Whitney
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(6) 733-738 (1966)