A light ray in space is characterized by two vectors: (i) a transverse spatial vector associated with the point where intersects given spherical cap; (ii) an angular-frequency which defines direction of propagation. Given propagating from emitter to receiver, linear equation established that links its representative vectors on and receiver. The link expressed means matrix not homogeneous, since...

In their paper "Role of optics in the accuracy of depth-from-defocus systems" [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A24, 967 (2007)] the authors Blayvas, Kimmel, and Rivlin discuss the effect of optics on the depth reconstruction accuracy. To this end they applied an approach in Fourier space. An alternative derivation of their result in the spatial domain, based on geometrical optics, is presented and compared wi...

The Fourier optics technique is founded on the transfer function derived from the scalar wave equation and thus has traditionally been applied to monochromatic scalar fields propagating paraxially in isotropic lossless materials. We review scalar and vector diffraction theory to show that the scalar Fourier optics technique can be seamlessly extended to the case of time-dependent nonparaxial an...

Optical wavefront interferometry has evolved into increasingly compact and portable forms with optimizations and novel developments from multi-component, bulk-optic configurations to miniaturized multi-core fiber forms; each presents its own advantages, challenges and opportunities. OCIS codes: 030.0030 Coherence; 070.0070 Fourier optics and signal processing; 120.0120 Instrumentation, measurem...

An interference analysis for double-grating shearing interferometry called coherent gradient sensing is presented, and the results are compared with an earlier geometrical optics analysis and a Fourier optics analysis based on the Fresnel approximation. The influence of the order of approximation in these analyses and the equivalence of fringe interpretation in each case are discussed.

We show that transformation optics can be applied to extend the functionalities of conventional optical devices. In particular, geometrically compressing the input facet of any conventional optical elements can extend the input spatial frequency bandwidth. As an example, we design a Fourier lens that can transform the image to its reciprocal space and operate for incident light of subwavelength...