Correlation Theory of Wavefields Generated by Fluctuating, Three-dimensional, Scalar Sources

Abstract

The general results derived in part I of this investigation are applied to study the radiant intensity and the degree of spatial coherence of the far field generated by certain types of fluctuating three-dimensional scalar sources. One class of sources that are considered are the three-dimensional analogues of quasihomogeneous sources, which provide a good representation for many natural sources of light. Three-dimensional analogues of the so-called Schell-model sources are also considered, under the assumptions that both the spatial distribution of the intensity and of the degree of spatial coherence of the source have the form of gaussian distributions. Several general theorems relating to fields generated by sources of both kinds are derived and the main results are illustrated by curves. Various limiting forms of the solutions are also considered.