Point sources and rays in the phase-space representation of random electromagnetic fields

Random stationary electromagnetic fields can be modeled in terms of point sources disposed onto two distinct layers, named the radiant and the virtual layers. It allows describing the propagation of the power and the states of spatial coherence and polarization of the field by means of separate phase-space ray-maps. Spatial coherence of the field, correlation of the polarization angles and achievement of the Fresnel-Arago laws within the structured spatial coherence supports are the necessary conditions that determine the electromagnetic point sources in the virtual layer. The contributions of these sources produce two types of modulations on the electromagnetic field at the observation plane, one of them of scalar type is the interferometric power modulation, and the other one of vector type is de modulation of the polarization state provided by the radiant point sources, according to the Stokes' parameters. Some examples are presented. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.