Published September 1987 | Version v1
Journal article

Path-integral derivation of the complex ABCD Huygens integral

  • 1. Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

Description

The Huygens integral, or Green's function, for paraxial beam propagation in a generalized lenslike medium is derived as a Feynman path integral involving a summation over real rays. This formulation provides a physically intuitive understanding of the structure of the Green's function. The path integral is evaluated by introducing in a consistent manner the notion of complex rays, and the familiar result for the Huygens integral in terms of the complex ABCD matrix of the medium is obtained

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
J. Opt. Soc. Am., A: Opt. Image Sci.
Journal Volume
4
Journal Issue
9
Series
J. Opt. Soc. Am., A: Opt. Image Sci.
Journal Page Range
1751-1755
ISSN
0740-3232
CODEN
JOAOD