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Physical Review A

Moments of the Sum of Photocounts in Gaussian Light

Jacques Bures, Claude A. Delisle, Andrzej Zardecki

Published Dec 1, 1972• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The statistics of the sum of photocounts in partially coherent Gaussian light is investigated. Both the case of detection at $L$ discrete points and the case of an extended surface of detection are considered. The combinatorial-analysis approach is applied to derive the moments and cumulants of the distribution. They all can be expressed in terms of the second-order correlation function. The results are generally valid independent of the ratio of the observation time to the coherence time of light. A comparison between the theoretical moments and the moments computed from experimental distributions as a function of the detector surface is carried out with the help of a pseudothermal source.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.6.2237

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Physical Review•Oct 25, 1969•18 citations
The statistics of the sum of photocounts in partially coherent Gaussian light is investigated. Both the case of detection at LLL discrete points and the case of an extended surface of detection are considered. The combinatorial-analysis approach is applied to derive the moments and cumulants of the distribution. They all can be expressed in terms of the second-order correlation function. The results are generally valid independent of the ratio of the observation time to the coherence time of light. A comparison between the theoretical moments and the moments computed from experimental distributions as a function of the detector surface is carried out with the help of a pseudothermal source.
The analysis of the photocount distribution in incoherent Gaussian light detected in L space points of a photodetector is extended to the case of partially coherent light. The second moment of the derived distribution is exact. A function η is introduced which accounts for the spatial coherence aspect of light as does the function ξ, (Mandel) for the temporal coherence aspect. A more general function ζ, which for cross-spectrally pure light reduces to the product ζ = ηξ, depends on both spatial and temporal characteristics of coherence. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that many different geometrical configurations yield the same normalized second moment. A pseudo-thermal source [Formula: see text] where T is the detection time and Tc the coherence time) is used for the experimental verification.
It is well known that the photocount distribution associated with the photoelectric detection of fluctuating light beams carries information about the probability density of the light intensity. In this paper, we present an exact solution to a problem of particular interest which arises in connection with the photoelectric detection of narrow-band Gaussian (thermal or pseudothermal) light, namely, the problem of determining the photocount distribution when the counting-time interval is not necessarily short compared to the coherence time of the light. The method developed in this paper is applied to the case where the spectral profile of the light is Lorentzian; it leads to an exact expression for the photocount generating function and it provides simple recurrence relations for the photocount distribution and for its factorial moments.
Exact formulas are derived for the factorial cumulants of the photoelectric counting distribution of partially polarized Gaussian and Gaussian-plus-coherent light for arbitrary detector areas. The results make it possible to follow the transition from Bose-Einstein statistics in the small-area limit to Poisson statistics in the large-area limit. Numerical results are presented for a circular geometry. These methods, which enable experimentally measured photocount statistics to be extrapolated to zero detector area, are expected to be useful in measurements of small departures from Gaussian statistics. Other theoretical results make it possible to express the statistics of the sum of photocounts from different photocathodes, or the multiaperture, single-cathode (MASC) photocount statistics of light of arbitrary coherence properties, in terms of the multicathode (MC) counting statistics. Explicit expressions are derived for the MASC photocount cumulants for the special case of partially polarized Gaussian light.
The statistical behavior of photoelectrons emitted at L points of a photocathode in partially coherent Gaussian light is considered. The exact formula for the cumulants and the factorial moment generating function is derived. An exact expression for the photocount distribution and for the factorial moments is obtained in the case when the detection time is much smaller than the coherence time. Two cases of interest which were treated earlier by the same authors are also considered. In particular, the case of two points of detection is of special interest because a physical meaning can be given to the difference of the normalized eigenvalues. Finally, both the exact and approximate theories are compared with the experimental photocount distribution for four different geometrical arrangements.
The probability distribution of photoelectrons detected simultaneously at L different points of a photocathode is studied under the assumptions that the incident light is Gaussian with arbitrary state of coherence and polarization. The generating function is expressed as an infinite product of eigenvalues of a matrix integral equation, the kernel being the correlation matrix. The case of spectrally pure light beams is discussed in detail and the relation to previous work is given. The notion of polarizationally pure beams is introduced, for which the polarization state of light is independent of the spatial and temporal coherence. The generating function is then expressed in terms of eigenvalues of a simpler integral equation. An approximate distribution valid up to the second moment is derived.
We study the photocounting statistics and the integrated intensity distribution of partially polarized Gaussian light. Expressions for the characteristic functions of the two distributions are obtained in terms of the eigenvalues of an associated integral equation. Closed-form expressions for these characteristic functions are derived for the special case when the spectral profile of the light is Lorentzian. Results from a numerical evaluation of the factorial moments of the number of photoelectrons in a given time interval and of the integrated intensity distribution are also presented.