Stochastic singular optics (Conference paper)

Abstract

The study of optical vortices in stochastic optical fields involves various quantities, including the vortex density and topological charge density, that are defined in terms of local expectation values of distributions of optical vortices. For stochastic optical fields that are inhomogeneous or not normally distributed, these local quantities often have nontrivial transient evolution as a function of propagation distance. The field of stochastic singular optics strive, among other things, to understand this dynamics. Here we review the tools and challenges of stochastic singular optics and provide some details of recent progress in this field.