Measurement of the transverse electric field profile of light by a self-referencing method with direct phase determination.

ABSTRACT

We present a method for measuring the transverse electric field profile of a beam of light which allows for direct phase retrieval. The measured values correspond, within a normalization constant, to the real and imaginary parts of the electric field in a plane normal to the direction of propagation. This technique represents a self-referencing method for probing the wavefront characteristics of light.