A new theory of complex rays

Abstract

A new approach to the theory of complex rays is presented. It is shown that the three-dimensional Minkowski space, the variant of the well known four-dimensional space-time Minkowski space of the special theory of relativity, is more appropriate for describing both real and complex rays than the usual Euclidean space. It turns out that in this space complex rays, as real ones, may have quite definite directions and magnitudes. This allows us to understand the geometrical meaning of the complex magnitudes such as complex distances and complex angles, intensively discussed over the last several decades. From this point of view a new interpretation of the Gaussian beams and reflection laws is presented.