Under the paraxial approximation for the propagation of vectorial coherence function, we made a theoretical investigation into the mechanism of the orbital angular coherence momentum associated with a coherence vortex. By controlling the irradiance distribution of an extended quasi-monochromatic spatially incoherent source with a spatial light modulator, we examined the phase structure of coherence function and investigated the birth and evolution of the orbital angular coherence momentum. Some properties related to the fractional coherence vortex, such as a wave particle-like duality of coherence function, are also investigated both theoretically and experimentally for the first time.

Date Published: 31 August 2007
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 6664, The Nature of Light: What Are Photons?, 66640M (31 August 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.730968

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6664:
The Nature of Light: What Are Photons?
Chandrasekhar Roychoudhuri; Al F. Kracklauer; Katherine Creath, Editor(s)