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arXiv:2104.11444 · Chinese Physics B

Non-Rayleigh photon statistics of superbunching pseudothermal light

Chaoqi Wei, Jianbin Liu, Xuexing Zhang, Rui Zhuang, Yu Zhou, Hui Chen, Yuchen He, Huaibin Zheng, Zhuo Xu

Published Jun 16, 2021• 3 citations

Abstract

Superbunching pseudothermal light has important applications in studying the second- and higher-order interference of light in quantum optics. Unlike the photon statistics of thermal or pseudothermal light is well understood, the photon statistics of superbunching pseudothermal light has not been studied yet. In this paper, we will employ single-photon detectors to measure the photon statistics of superbunching pseudothermal light and calculate the degree of second-order coherence. It is found that the larger the value of the degree of second-order coherence of superbunching pseudothermal light is, the more the measured photon distribution deviates from the one of thermal or pseudothermal light in the tail part. The results are helpful to understand the physics of two-photon superbunching with classical light. It is suggested that superbunching pseudothermal light can be employed to generate non-Rayleigh temporal speckles.

DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac0ba9

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Two-photon superbunching of classical light is observed with single-mode continuous-wave laser light in a linear optical system. By adding more two-photon paths via rotating ground glasses, pinholes, lens, etc., g(2)(0)=7.10±0.07 is experimentally observed. The second-order temporal coherence function of the superbunching pseudothermal light is theoretically and experimentally studied in detail. It is predicted that the degree of coherence can be increased dramatically by adding more multi-photon paths. For instance, the degree of the second- and third-order coherence of the superbunching pseudothermal light with five rotating ground glasses can reach 32 and 7776, respectively. The results are helpful to understanding the physics of superbunching and improving the visibility of thermal light ghost imaging.

Three-photon superbunching is experimentally observed with the recently proposed superbunching pseudothermal light. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that three-photon superbunching is observed with classical light in a linear optical system. From the quantum optics point of view, three-photon superbunching is interpreted as the result of constructive-destructive three-photon interference. The key to observe three-photon superbunching with superbunching pseudothermal light is that all the different ways to trigger a three-photon coincidence count are in principle indistinguishable, which is experimentally guaranteed by putting a pinhole before each rotating ground glass to ensure that all the passed photons are within the same coherence area. The observed three-photon superbunching is helpful to increase the visibility of ghost imaging and understand the physics of third-order interference of light.

We describe photon statistics experiments using pseudothermal light that can be performed in an undergraduate physics laboratory. We examine the light properties in terms of a second-order coherence function, as determined either by measuring the light intensity as a function of time or via coincidence analysis of a pair of photon detectors. We determine the coherence time and intensity distribution of the pseudothermal light source that exhibits either Gaussian or non-Gaussian statistics as a function of their optical parameters, and then compare the results with theoretical predictions. The simple photodiode method can be used for the qualitative analysis of the coherence time, but more accurate measurements are achieved using the coincidence method.

A simple superbunching pseudothermal light source is introduced based on common instruments such as laser, lenses, pinholes, and ground glasses. ${g}^{(2)}(0)=3.66\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ is observed in the suggested scheme by employing two rotating ground glasses. Quantum and classical theories are employed to interpret the observed superbunching effect. It is predicted that

{g}^{(2)}(0)

can reach

{2}^{N}

if

N

rotating ground glasses were employed. These results are helpful to understand the physics of superbunching. The proposed superbunching pseudothermal light may serve as a type of light to study the second- and higher-order coherence of light and have potential application in improving the visibility of thermal light ghost imaging.