Diffraction of Coherent Light by a System of Lenses

Abstract

This study concerns a boundary-value problem approach to the action of a lens system upon a coherent light beam. For the sake of simplicity, we assume the lenses to be cylindrical and to be composed of homogeneous perfect dielectric substances. In addition, we assume that the cross sections of the lenses are those of two intersecting circles. The solution to Maxwell's equations is sought by means of Green's identity, which permits us to express the electromagnetic field within and outside of each lens in terms of the field values on the lens surfaces. The application of the continuity relations across these same surfaces then yields a system of coupled Fredholm-type integral equations of the second kind. These are reduced, by means of the numerical quadraturing technique, to a finite-order matrix equation, the unknowns of which represent the sampled field values along the lens surfaces. For a large number of lenses and for a large number of sampling points, the inversion of the matrix equation can be acco...