Quality descriptors of optical beams based on centred reduced moments III: spot moments-based method for laser characterization

A previously reported and theoretically supported, method for calculating the amplitude and phase of the complex degree of spatial coherence by means of the centred reduced moments is experimentally verified. It is shown in this work that a finite number of moments of the beam spot distribution are needed in order to achieve a successful calculation of the complex degree of spatial coherence of different laser systems. Several experimental complex degrees of spatial coherence are calculated by means of the moments-technique and their validity verified via the Fourier transform.