Abstract
The evolution of a light wave along an optical system, in paraxial approximation, can be described with the aid of a group of operators acting as canonical transformations in the framework of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics in two dimensions. This group is isomorphic to the ten-dimensional metaplectic group Mp(2). The homomorphism Mp(2)→Sp(2) (symplectic group) gives a description of the geometrical-optics approximation.
- Received 17 July 1980
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.23.2533
©1981 American Physical Society
