Abstract

These topics have a fundamental connection. Nonimaging optics is the optics of extended objects, hence of phase-space transport. Obviously, measurement of radiance (the density in phase space) depends on the statistical properties of the wave field and of the instrument. Playing the movie backwards gives a van Cittert-Zernike-like theorem for the instrument. The observable effects, important for measurements near the diffraction limit, have been tested experimentally with high resolution long-wave IR radiometers. The qualitative result is that objects are closer (or warmer) than you think.

© 2003 Optical Society of America