Noninterferometric phase imaging with partially coherent light

We demonstrate that interferometric imaging may be replaced by noninterferometric propagation-based techniques in many experiments. We explore propagation through the Poynting vector and find two classes of phase, one of which is topological in origin. Only this latter class may require interferometry to be determined, and even then only in specific well-defined circumstances. Our alternative definitions of phase are readily generalized to partially coherent radiation. Our analysis leads to an approach that is able to determine the absolute phase and the amplitude of a wave.