Abstract
The method of Gaussian beam ray-equivalent modelling, first proposed by Arnaud, is generalized to the case of general astigmatism. It has been shown that a generally astigmatic Gaussian beam can be properly represented by two complex rays, or equally by four real rays, which are treated by the well-known propagation equation and ray tracing method in geometric optics, and from which the beam parameters are easily obtained. Illustrative numerical examples are given. The equivalence between the complex-ray treatment and the generalized ABCD law is also shown.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
E. ACOSTA, R. M. CONZALEZ and C. COMEZ-REINO, Opt. Lett. 16 (1991) 627.
B. LÜ, S. XU, Y. HU and B. CAI, Opt. Quantum Electron. 24 (1992) 619.
J. A. ARNAUD and H. KOGELNIK, Appl. Opt. 8 (1969) 1687.
J. A. ARNAUD, Appl. Opt. 24 (1985) 538.
J. A. ARNAUD, Bell System Tech. J. 49 (1970) 2311.
R. HERIOSKI, S. MARSHALL and R. ANTOS, Appl. Opt. 22 (1983) 1168.
D. DEJAGER and M. NOETHEN, Appl. Opt. 31 (1992) 2199.
B. LÜ, S. XU, G. FENG and B. CAI, Optik 90 (1992) 158.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lü, B., Feng, G. & Cai, B. Complex ray representation of the astigmatic Gaussian beam propagation. Optical and Quantum Electronics 25, 275–284 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419005
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419005