Measuring the Complete Transverse Spatial Mode Spectrum of a Wave Field
Quantum Physics
2011-02-08 v1 Optics
Abstract
We put forward a method that allows the experimental determination of the entire spatial mode spectrum of any arbitrary monochromatic wave field in a plane normal to its propagation direction. For coherent optical fields, our spatial spectrum analyzer can be implemented with a small number of benchmark refractive elements embedded in a single Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We detail an efficient setup for measuring in the Hermite-Gaussian mode basis. Our scheme should also be feasible in the context of atom optics for analyzing the spatial profiles of macroscopic matter waves.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0804.4669,
title = {Measuring the Complete Transverse Spatial Mode Spectrum of a Wave Field},
author = {Gabriel F. Calvo and Antonio Picón and Roberta Zambrini},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.4669},
year = {2011}
}