PROPAGATION OF PARAXIAL CIRCULAR SYMMETRICAL BEAMS IN A GENERAL OPTICAL-SYSTEM

Starting from flattened Gaussian beams, we deduce analytical expressio ns for the propagation of paraxial circular symmetric beams through a general first-order optical system. It is shown that the propagation o f any scalar beam in a paraxial domain takes the same form as that in free space. Three parameters were introduced to characterize the evolu tion of the propagating beam. Numerical examples are also presented to illustrate the effectiveness of this method. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.