physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, coherence theory is the study of

optical effects Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously ca ...

arising from partially coherent light and radio sources. Partially coherent sources are sources where the coherence time or

coherence length In physics, coherence length is the propagation distance over which a coherent wave (e.g. an electromagnetic wave) maintains a specified degree of coherence. Wave interference is strong when the paths taken by all of the interfering waves dif ...

are limited by

bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...

, by thermal noise, or by other effect. Many aspects of modern coherence theory are studied in

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics dealing with how individual quanta of light, known as photons, interact with atoms and molecules. It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons. Photons have ...

. The theory of partial coherence was awoken in the 1930s due to work by

Pieter Hendrik van Cittert Pieter Hendrik van Cittert (30 May 1889, Gouda – 8 October 1959, Utrecht) was a Dutch physicist and science historian. He was born in Gouda, Netherlands, to Benjamin Pieter van Cittert and Petronella Antonia Huber, and died on October 8, 1959, ...

and

Frits Zernike Frits Zernike (; 16 July 1888 – 10 March 1966) was a Dutch physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. Early life and education Frits Zernike was born on 16 July 1888 in Am ...

Topics in coherence theory

Visibility The visibility is the measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly discerned. In meteorology it depends on the transparency of the surrounding air and as such, it is unchanging no matter the ambient light level or time o ...

* Mutual coherence function * Degree of coherence * Self coherence function * Coherence function * Low frequency fluctuations *

General interference law A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

* Van Cittert–Zernike theorem *

Michelson stellar interferometer The Michelson stellar interferometer is one of the earliest astronomical interferometers built and used. The interferometer was proposed by Albert A. Michelson in 1890, following a suggestion by Hippolyte Fizeau. The first such interferometer b ...

Correlation interferometry An intensity interferometer is the name given to devices that use the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect. In astronomy, the most common use of such an astronomical interferometer is to determine the apparent angular diameter of a radio source or star. ...

Hanbury–Brown and Twiss effect In physics, the Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) effect is any of a variety of correlation and anti-correlation effects in the intensities received by two detectors from a beam of particles. HBT effects can generally be attributed to the wave–part ...

Phase-contrast microscope __NOTOC__ Phase-contrast microscopy (PCM) is an optical microscopy technique that converts phase shifts in light passing through a transparent specimen to brightness changes in the image. Phase shifts themselves are invisible, but become visible ...

* Pseudothermal light * Englert–Greenberger duality relation *

Coherence Collapse Coherence, coherency, or coherent may refer to the following: Physics * Coherence (physics), an ideal property of waves that enables stationary (i.e. temporally and spatially constant) interference * Coherence (units of measurement), a deri ...

References

Eugene Hecht Eugene Hecht (born 2 December 1938 in New York City) is an American physicist and author of a standard work in optics. Hecht studied at New York University (B.S. in E.P. 1960), Rutgers University (M. Sc. 1963), Adelphi University (Ph.D. 1967). D ...

and Alfred Zajac, ''Optics'', (1974) Addison-Wesley Publishing, Reading, Massachusetts . ''(Chapter 12 provides an undergraduate level introduction.)'' Interferometry Physical optics {{optics-stub

Topics in coherence theory

See also

References