Coherence Width and Area Calculator

One of the most difficult topics to understand in modern optics theory is coherence. There are two different types of coherence, as distinguished by physicists, namely transverse (spatial) coherence and longitudinal (temporal) coherence, which both characterize a wave.

While the frequency spectrum determines the temporal coherence, namely its length and time, the parameters of the spatial coherence can be calculated based on the size of the light source and the distance between the source and the observer. That is what the Coherence Width and Area Calculator has been created to do.

The application requires no installation and you will have it ready to go in an instant. The one-window interface only comprises a few fields that you must fill in to be able to determine the coherence width and area. The width is the distance along the wavefront, whereas the area measures the surface over which a specific coherence degree is maintained.

To calculate them, you must enter the diameter of the source (in micrometers), the distance between the observer and the source (in micrometers), as well as the area of the source (in square micrometers). If you filled these, there is one more field to fill in, namely the peak wavelength, in micrometers as well.   The spatial coherence parameters are then calculated with ease. The width is displayed in meters, while the area is calculated in square meters.