Coherence properties of a source array derived from a Gaussian Schell-model beam

Abstract

The spatial coherence properties of a source array derived from a quasi-monochromatic Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beam are analyzed. The method for realizing the source array by use of a GSM source and a Gaussian amplitude grating was originally proposed in our preceding paper [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 11, 2112 (1994)], in which the intensity distribution was analyzed. One result that we obtain is that the degree of spatial coherence of each element in the source array is the same as that at the other elements. In particular, each element becomes equivalent to the GSM source and has a high degree of spatial coherence with the other elements if three conditions are satisfied simultaneously: (1) the spatial-coherence length of the GSM source is larger than the GSM source size, (2) the GSM source size normalized by a period of the grating is 0.3 to 0.5, and (3) each aperture size of the grating normalized by the period is 0.05 or less.