Spectral coherence anomalies

Abstract

We describe the anomalous behavior of the spectral degree of coherence as a function of light frequency in the vicinity of phase singularities of partially spatially coherent, polychromatic wave fields. We distinguish the discovered spectral coherence anomalies from conventional spectral anomalies realized with fully spatially coherent optical fields. We also demonstrate how the previously reported spectral anomalies can be engineered in partially spatially coherent fields.