Nonuniform coherence sampling for fields produced by incoherent three-dimensional sources

A nonuniform sampling scheme is described for measuring the mutual intensity of the wave field produced in a plane a distance z from a spatially incoherent, three-dimensional source object. Both uniform and nonuniform sampling are analyzed and discussed in detail, and comparisons of the two schemes are made. It is shown that nonuniform sampling requires fewer measurements than uniform sampling to specify the coherence function. Additionally, the smallest separation required between measurement points is larger for the nonuniform case.