Cross terms of the Wigner distribution function and aliasing in numerical simulations of paraxial optical systems

Opt Lett. 2010 Apr 15;35(8):1142-4. doi: 10.1364/OL.35.001142.

Abstract

Sampling a function periodically replicates its spectrum. As a bilinear function of the signal, the associated Wigner distribution function contains cross terms between the replicas. Often neglected, these cross terms affect numerical simulations of paraxial optical systems. We develop expressions for these cross terms and show their effect on an example calculation.