The Gouy Phase Shift Reinterpreted Via the Geometric Fourier Transform

Frankfurt, 17th of May, 2018, SPIE Optical Systems Design

Geometrical and physical optics, particularly when it comes to simulations of optical systems, tend to be presented as completely separate from each other, the links between the two tenuously acknowledged at best. However, when they are viewed for what they are it is evident that not only are they not separate, but that in fact the two types of behaviours very often coexist within the same system; what seemed like a clear barrier becomes a much blurrier affair, a grey area characterised by a gradual decrease in accuracy of the geometric model. The Gouy phase shift tends to cause fascination in the optics community, as it refuses to comply with the neat separation between the two models (geometric and physical) that characterises general perception.