Multipole and plane wave expansions of diverging and converging fields

This paper presents and compares two basis systems, spherical harmonics and plane waves, for studying diverging and converging beams in an optical system. We show a similarity between a converging field and the time reversed field of a radiation field. We present and analyze the differences between the Debye-Wolf diffraction integral and the multipole theory for focusing of polarized light. The Debye-Wolf diffraction integral gives a well-known anomalous behavior on the optical axis and at the edge of the focused beam that can be avoided by using the multipole theory. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America