Concept of modes in optics and photonics

Rene Daendliker

doi:10.1117/12.388718

16 June 2000 Concept of modes in optics and photonics

Rene Daendliker

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Proceedings Volume 3831, Sixth International Conference on Education and Training in Optics and Photonics; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.388718
Event: Education and Training in Optics and Photonics (ETOP'99), 1999, Cancun, Mexico

Abstract

The concept of modes, or eigenfunctions, is fundamental for all wave phenomena in physics like optics, acoustics and quantum mechanics. In optics and photonics, the concept of modes is well suited to describe emission and absorption, coherence and interference, propagation and dispersion. The concept of modes consists of two aspects: first, the modes are solutions for the propagation of the light; second, the number of photons int he different modes describes the transport of energy or information. The energy density of the black body radiation, given by Planck's law, is the production of the density of modes in free space and the average number of photons per mode, given by the Bose- Einstein distribution. The transverse shape of the modes is determined by diffraction and boundary conditions. The longitudinal extension is given by the coherence length.

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Rene Daendliker "Concept of modes in optics and photonics", Proc. SPIE 3831, Sixth International Conference on Education and Training in Optics and Photonics, (16 June 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.388718

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