Tom Cupers, Se Baek Oh, Roarke Horstmeyer, Philippe Bekaert, George Barbastathis, Ramesh Raskar

Abstract

In this work we provide an introduction to the Wigner Distribution Function (WDF) using geometric optics principles. The WDF provides a useful model of wave-fields, allowing simulation of diffraction and interference effects. We attempt to explain these Fourier optics concepts to computational photography researchers by clarifying the relationship between the WDF and position-angle representations. We demonstrate how the WDF can be used to simulate diffraction effects using a light field representation and discuss its validity in the near-field, far-field, and under the paraxial approximation. Finally, we demonstrate that although the WDF representation contains negative values, any projection always yields a non-negative intensity value.