Abstract
Simple conditions on the magnitude and phase of the complex degree of coherence of stationary, scalar, one-dimensional (1D) Schell-like sources are derived for the design of novel optical beam-like fields. Several examples of new sources obtained with the help of signum, odd monomials, and sine phase functions are given. A geometrical representation, termed coherence curve, for the complex coherence state of a 1D, Schell-like source with non-trivial magnitude and phase distributions by means of a parametric curve confined to the unit circle in a complex plane is also introduced.
