Analyzing spatial coherence using a single mobile field sensor.

Area of Science:

• Optics
• Radiometry
• Signal Processing

Background:

• The Van Cittert-Zernike theorem relates incoherent source intensity to mutual coherence between two points.
• Traditional methods often require multiple sensors or complex setups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a comparable relationship using a single mobile sensor relative to a spatially incoherent source.
• To demonstrate that the auto-correlation function of the electric field contains source intensity information.

Main Methods:

• Calculating the relationship between a single moving sensor's electric field auto-correlation function and the source's intensity distribution.
• Utilizing principles analogous to the Van Cittert-Zernike theorem.

Main Results:

• The auto-correlation function of the electric field at a single moving sensor directly contains information about the source's intensity distribution.
• A mathematical expression is derived for this relationship.

Conclusions:

• The derived expression provides a method for inferring source intensity from a single moving sensor.
• This approach has potential applications in aperture synthesis and related imaging techniques.