Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 80 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take transverse length units in which the wave phase modulation has wavenumber one. Set . A Taylor expansion of the free parabolic propagator givesFor a general real wave phase ,Multiplying the envelope expansion by its complex conjugate and collecting powers of gives the phase-to-intensity conversion near a deterministic phase screen,For , , and , henceThe first-order brightening occurs where the wave phase curvature is negative. Both correction terms average to zero over a transverse period, in agreement with power conservation. If a dimensional modulation is used instead, the two terms are and .
Phase curvature converts a unit-amplitude sinusoidal phase screen into intensity variations; exact paraxial propagation is compared with its quadratic near-screen approximation
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