Pseudo-symmetric beams: generation, propagation properties, and measurements

Abstract

We define the pseudo-symmetrical (PS), or the non-rotating general astigmatic beams (NRGA), and investigate them theoretically and experimentally. We show that to any type of symmetrical (S) beam, such as stigmatic (ST), aligned simple astigmatic (ASA), or rotated simple astigmatic (RSA), corresponds a type of PS beam, which we call pseudo-stigmatic (PST), pseudo-aligned simple astigmatic (PASA), and pseudo-rotated simple astigmatic (PRSA), respectively. The PS beams behave identical to the symmetrical ones as long as only rotationally symmetric optical systems are in involved, and as long as the second-order moments method (2-MM) is used to characterize these beams. We show how to characterize the PS beams using this method, how to generate them, we study their propagation properties, and show how to identify and measure them in comparison to the measurement of the symmetrical beams. © (1999) SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering.