Wavefront plot issue

[Dony-94]

Hi Professor Klementiev,

I was wondering whether xrt can plot the distribution of the wavefront or the field ditribution.

Thank you!

BW,
Dony

[kklmn]

Hi,

Each example of wave propagation plots the intensity distribution on optical elements and screens. From the plotting perspective, waves are not different from rays. The difference is in the method you obtain these distributions: by reflect and expose for rays, and by prepare_wave and diffract for waves.

If your question is about plotting the field amplitude, not intensity, then this is not possible directly because this is a complex-valued quantity. A workaround that is acceptable to me is to plot intensity and colorize it by phase, see the section "Flat screen vs normal-to-k screen (wave front)" of the SoftiMAX/CXI example.

If your question is how to find the wavefront -- a constant-phase surface -- then the same example has it.