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arXiv:1210.3212 · New Journal of Physics

Schmidt-like coherent mode decomposition and spatial intensity correlations of thermal light

I. B. Bobrov, Stanislav S. Straupe, E. V. Kovlakov, S. P. Kulik

Published Jul 5, 2013• 20 citations
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Abstract

We experimentally study the properties of coherent mode decomposition for the intensity correlation function of quasi-thermal light. We use the technique of spatial mode selection developed for studying the transverse entanglement of photon pairs, and show that it can be extended to characterize classical spatial correlations. Our results demonstrate the existence of a unique, for a given thermal source, basis of coherent modes, correlated in a way much resembling the Schmidt modes of spatially entangled photons.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/15/7/073016

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We experimentally study the properties of coherent mode decomposition for the intensity correlation function of quasi-thermal light. We use the technique of spatial mode selection developed for studying the transverse entanglement of photon pairs, and show that it can be extended to characterize classical spatial correlations. Our results demonstrate the existence of a unique, for a given thermal source, basis of coherent modes, correlated in a way much resembling the Schmidt modes of spatially entangled photons.
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Optical intensity correlation is a fundamental property of light and an essential resource for numerous optical applications. In this work, we introduce the concept of classical correlation swapping, a classical analogue of quantum entanglement swapping, to generate all-purpose spatial correlations between two independent thermal light sources. Using a spatially unresolved Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a medium variable, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of the correlator with two distinct schemes for independent pseudo-thermal light beams. Notably, the resulting photon correlations can be readily tailored to exhibit either bunching (peak) or anti-correlated (dip) characteristics, with a significantly reduced number of post-selection measurements. Leveraging this classical correlator, we further demonstrate the first classical ghost imaging experiment using uncorrelated or unknown light. Numerical simulations also confirm that the correlator can not only operate well in other spatial degrees of freedom (e.g., orbital angular momentum) but also be used to establish specific spatial correlations between pseudo-thermal light sources possessing distinct correlation properties. This work opens a new avenue for harnessing uncorrelated classical light in correlation-based optical applications.
We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a method to measure the Schmidt number of pure two-photon states entangled in transverse-mode structure. Our method is based on the connection between the Schmidt decomposition in quantum theory and the coherent-mode decomposition in classical coherence theory. We apply the method to two-photon states generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion and show that our results are in excellent agreement with numerical calculations based on the Schmidt decomposition.
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In this thesis we investigate diverse aspects of spatial coherence of light. Non-classical fields containing two photons can be generated by a nonlinear optical process known as spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC). Among the questions we consider are: What is so special about spatial entanglement? How is it revealed in the fourth-order correlations? What are the differences between a highly entangled and a classically correlated state? How can the number of modes be manipulated and measured? For a two-photon system, we measure both intensities and two-photon correlations. To get deeper insights into how coherence affects interference, we also investigate completely classical sources.