Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Shaping the Amplitude and Phase of Laser Beams by Using a Phase-only Spatial Light Modulator
Published on: January 28, 2019
On the interference of two Gaussian beams and their ABCD matrix representation
Muzammil A Arain1, Guido Mueller
1Department of Physics, University of Florida, PO Box 118440, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. muzamil@phys.ufl.edu
Abstract:
Gaussian beam propagation is well described by the q-parameter and the ABCD matrices. A variety of ABCD matrices are available that represent commonly occurring scenarios/components in optics. One important phenomenon that has not been studied in detail is the interference of two optical beams with different q-parameters undergoing interference. In this paper, we describe the effect of interference of two Gaussian beams. We derive an ABCD matrix for the addition of two beams that takes into account both the amplitude and phase difference between two beams. This ABCD matrix will help greatly in determining the propagation of beams inside complex interferometers and finding the solutions for the coupled cavity Eigenmodes.
Related Concept Videos
Interference and Diffraction
Interference and Superposition of Waves
Interference occurs in mechanical waves, such as sound waves, waves on a string, and surface water waves. Mechanical waves correspond to the physical displacement of particles. Hence,...
Gaussian Elimination: Problem Solving
Gauss's Law: Cylindrical Symmetry
Plane Electromagnetic Waves I
The EM field is assumed to be a...
Dot Product of Two Vectors

