OPTICAL CORRELATION DIAGNOSTICS OF RANDOM-FIELDS AND OBJECTS

Interference and polarization-interference methods for measuring ampli tude and phase parameters of random optical fields are reviewed and th eir applications to random field identification and diagnostics of ran dom phase objects are discussed. The use of the correlation dimension of chaos in an optical field as a diagnostic tool is considered. The i nterference principles employed in parallel processing of large data b ulks are shown to increase considerably the processing speed of diagno stic devices. That a proper account of the contribution of the longitu dinal field component in the formation of such wave dislocations enabl es one to gain an insight into the wavefront formation mechanism in th e vicinity of a zero amplitude is also demonstrated.