Measurement of the amplitude and phase structures of an optical field and the transfer function for describing the effect of a medium in the form of a modulating function

The phase problem in optics is solved as applied to the detection and analysis of the amplitude and phase structures of two-dimensional optical fields forming or transmitting an image and the amplitude and phase structures of the transfer or instrumental functions of either the media containing optical inhomogeneities or the systems forming fields and involving instrumental distortions. The effect of the medium is characterized by a modulating function and described by a multiplication operation. Two variants of the optical scheme are considered. In each variant, the spatial-frequency spectrum is formed by the first optical system and the first spatial modulation is introduced in the spatial-frequency plane. The second optical system is arranged in the same plane. This system images the field under investigation into the plane located at the exit of the transmitting medium. In the first variant of the optical scheme, the second spatial modulation is introduced in the same plane. The third optical system forms a spatial-frequency spectrum in the detection plane. In the second variant of the scheme, an image of the plane positioned at the exit of the probing medium is formed in the detection plane by the third optical system. The second spatial modulation is introduced in the spatial-frequency plane of the third optical system. In both variants, four independent two-dimensional intensity distributions that make it possible to solve the problem posed are detected at the exit.