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Title: Huygens--Fresnel--Kirchoff wave-front diffraction formulation: spherical waves

Journal Article · · J. Opt. Soc. Am. A; (United States)

The Huygens--Fresnel diffraction integral has been formulated for incident spherical waves with use of the Kirchhoff obliquity factor and the wave front as the surface of integration instead of the aperture plane. Accurate numerical integration calculations were used to investigate very-near-field diffraction for the well-established case of a circular aperture. It is shown that the classical aperture-plane formulation degenerates when the wave front, as truncated at the aperture, has any degree of curvature to it, whereas the wave-front formulation produces accurate results from /infinity/ up to one aperture diameter behind the aperture plane. It is also shown that the Huygens--Fresnel--Kirchhoff incident-plane-wave--aperture-plane-integration and incident-spherical-wave--wave-front-integration formulations produce equally accurate results for apertures with exit /ital f/-numbers as small as 1.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, EG G Idaho, Incorporated, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415(US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-76ID01570
OSTI ID:
5936432
Journal Information:
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A; (United States), Vol. 6:8
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English