Complex ABCD matrices: An analytical tool for analyzing light propagation involving stochastic processes

摘要

A formulation of light beam propagation through any complex optical system that can be described by an ABCD ray-transfer matrix will be given. Within the framework of complex ABCD-optical systems, the optical set-up itself is approximated, primarily by replacing all apertures with soft apertures having a Gaussian intensity transmission function, whereby a new matrix - now complex -can be added to the well-known suite of real-valued matrices, cf. Eq. 1.