ALMOST-FOURIER AND ALMOST-FRESNEL TRANSFORMATIONS

Based on the special affine Fourier transformation (SAFT), which is an extension of the fractional Fourier transformation, the small deviati ons from the perfect optical operations on wave functions are treated in a unified way. As simple and instructive examples, the almost-Fouri er and almost-Fresnel transformations are constructed explicitly. The present investigation shows transformations which include the small im perfections of optical instruments can be developed within the framewo rk of linear theory.