Coherent Mode Decoupling: A Versatile Framework for High-Throughput Partially Coherent Light Transport

Abstract

Accurate and efficient wave-optics simulation of partially coherent light transport systems is critical for the design of advanced optical systems, ranging from computational lithography to diffraction-limited storage rings (DLSR). However, traditional approaches based on Coherent Mode Decomposition suffer from high computational costs due to the propagating massive sets of two-dimensional modes. In this paper, we propose the Coherent Mode Decoupling (CMDC) algorithm, a high-throughput computational framework designed to accelerate these simulations by orders of magnitude without compromising physical fidelity. The method factorizes 2D modes into efficient one-dimensional (1D) components, while crucially incorporating a subspace compression strategy to capture non-separable coupling effects. We demonstrated the generality and robustness of this framework in applications ranging from computational lithography to coherent beamlines of DLSR.