Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the concept of the optics of spatial coherence wavelets. A theory is presented that is consistent with the second-order theory of spatial coherence but introduces novel concepts to overcome its limitations. This chapter also discusses the scalar and electromagnetic wave fields are described in terms of spatial coherence wavelets in the phase space; these wavelets are emitted by sets of radiant and virtual point sources distributed over separate layers of the aperture plane. The former are
