Fundamental structure of Fresnel diffraction: longitudinal uniformity with respect to fractional Fourier order.

Fresnel integrals corresponding to different distances can be interpreted as scaled fractional Fourier transformations observed on spherical reference surfaces. Transverse samples can be taken on these surfaces with separation that increases with propagation distance. Here, we are concerned with the separation of the spherical reference surfaces along the longitudinal direction. We show that these surfaces should be equally spaced with respect to the fractional Fourier transform order, rather than being equally spaced with respect to the distance of propagation along the optical axis. The spacing should be of the order of the reciprocal of the space-bandwidth product of the signals. The space-dependent longitudinal and transverse spacings define a grid that reflects the structure of Fresnel diffraction.

Fundamental structure of Fresnel diffraction: natural sampling grid and the fractional Fourier transform.

Fresnel integrals corresponding to different distances can be interpreted as scaled fractional Fourier transformations observed on spherical reference surfaces. We show that by judiciously choosing sample points on these curved reference surfaces, it is possible to represent the diffracted signals in a nonredundant manner. The change in sample spacing with distance reflects the structure of Fresnel diffraction. This sampling grid also provides a simple and robust basis for accurate and efficient computation, which naturally handles the challenges of sampling chirplike kernels.