Fundamentals of Photonics, 2 Volume Set, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3 BEAM OPTICS

1. 3.1 THE GAUSSIAN BEAM
   1. A. Complex Amplitude
   2. B. Properties
   3. C. Beam Quality
2. 3.2 TRANSMISSION THROUGH OPTICAL COMPONENTS
   1. A. Transmission Through a Thin Lens
   2. B. Beam Shaping
   3. C. Reflection from a Spherical Mirror
   4. *D. Transmission Through an Arbitrary Optical System
3. 3.3 HERMITE–GAUSSIAN BEAMS
4. 3.4 LAGUERRE–GAUSSIAN BEAMS
5. 3.5 NONDIFFRACTING BEAMS
   1. A. Bessel Beams
   2. *B. Airy Beams

The Gaussian beam, named after the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777– 1855), is circularly symmetric and has a radial intensity that follows the form of a Gaussian distribution.

Edmond Nicolas Laguerre (1834–1886), a French mathematician, devised a set of polynomials useful for describing circularly symmetric light beams with helical wavefronts and orbital angular momentum.

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846), a noted German astronomer, established a set of functions that characterize the radial intensity of circularly symmetric, planar-wavefront, non-diffracting optical beams.

Can light be spatially confined and transported in free space without angular spread? Although the wave nature of light precludes the possibility of such idealized transport, light can, in ...