Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-laser-science-and-quantum-information-processing-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/2/c/solution

For the shown sequence of free space, thin lens, and free space, multiply the ray transfer matrices in traversal order:
To obtain an ordinary Fourier transform of an arbitrary input field, neither an input quadratic phase nor an output quadratic phase may remain. Thus , requiring
Using the physically consistent kernel derived in part b gives
The spatial Fourier coordinate is . If the source's schematic integral normalization is retained instead, set its slowly varying denominator to to obtain the same Fourier transform with overall prefactor . Keeping the source's incorrect quadratic sign would reverse the Fourier coordinate. These overall-normalization conventions do not alter the focal-plane placement, but an unapproximated transverse-dependent denominator would not give an exact Fourier transform.

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