Hidden singularities in partially coherent wavefields

Abstract

It is well known that light fields which are partially coherent and/or polychromatic do not typically possess regions of zero intensity and hence do not possess any obvious phase singularities. It is of interest to ask whether or not such fields possess singularities in some 'hidden' form, and in this paper we discuss the singular optics of partially coherent fields and the nature of the singularities in such fields.