Spatial Coherence and Optical Beam Shifts
arXiv:1207.4364 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.213901
Abstract
A beam of light, reflected at a planar interface, does not follow perfectly the ray optics prediction. Diffractive corrections lead to beam shifts; either the reflected beam is displaced (spatial shift) and/or travels in a different direction (angular shift), as compared to geometric optics. How does the degree of spatial coherence of light influence these shifts? Theoretically, this has turned out to be a controversial issue. Here we resolve the controversy experimentally; we show that the degree of spatial coherence influences the angular beam shifts, while the spatial beam shifts are unaffected.
5 pages, 5 figures
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