Quantum coherent versus classical coherent light

V. P. Karasev, V. I. Puzyrevskii

Alfredo Luis

We examine the relation between second-order coherence and resolution in the interferometric detection of phase shifts. While for classical thermal light resolution and second-order coherence are synonymous, we show that for quantum light beams reaching optimum precision second-order coherence and resolution become antithetical.

D. S. Citrin

The propagation of a weak light beam through a quantum well in the vicinity of an excitonic resonance that is modulated harmonically in time at terahertz frequency is considered. It is found that the reflection probability of the light beam is considerably different in the cases of purely coherent versus Gaussian incoherent terahertz modulation, even in the limit of long coherence times.

Gerard Nienhuis, Steven Habraken

A. Yu. Ardashev, В. А. Кашин, G. V. Skrotskiǐ

E. Fernandez, Miguel Orszag

We study N-body effects on the coherence properties of the light emitted spontaneously by a free-electron laser working in the Compton regime. In particular, antibunching, present in a one-electron model, disappears as soon as one introduces more than one electron into the model. We also study quantum versus classical (shot) noise.