Abstract The third-order intensity correlation function of a single-mode laser beam has been measured with high accuracy near the laser threshold by using a fast digital correlator. The results are in good agreement with recent theoretical computations.
We present an experimental investigation of the third-order intensity correlations in the light from a single-mode intensity-stabilized He-Ne laser in the threshold region. Accurate results were obtained by utilizing a fast digital correlator operating in real time. The computation of the intrinsic third-order correlations requires also a knowledge of the second-order intensity correlation which was measured under the same operating conditions. The experimental data are in agreement with recent theoretical computations based on the usual Van der Pol model of the laser oscillator. A new definition of the intrinsic correlations, which seems more appropriate for the interpretation of the experimental results, is discussed.
A procedure for the measurement of intensity correlations of the type $〈:\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t)\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t+\ensuremath{\tau}):〉$ and $〈:\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t+{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{1})\stackrel{^}{I}(\mathrm{x}, t+{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{2}):〉$ with the use of a time-to-amplitude converter is developed. The procedure is used to measure second- and third-order intensity fluctuation correlation functions of the optical field produced by a gas laser operated at various levels near its threshold of oscillation. The results are shown to be in agreement with the predictions of laser theories.
The form and the decay time of the intensity correlation function of the light from a single-mode He:Ne laser have been measured in the neighborhood of threshold. The experiments were performed at several predetermined values of the pump parametera, ranging froma = -1toa = 4. By combination of the experimental results with the theoretically predicted eigenvalues appearing in the expansion of the correlation function, it was possible also to determine the amplitudes of the first two terms in the expansion over the same range. The experimental results are found to be substantially in agreement with the nonlinear oscillator theory of the laser, without adjustment of any arbitrary scaling parameters.
We have calculated the third- and higher-order (multitime) cumulants of the intensity of single-mode laser light using the rotating-wave van der Pol (RWVP) model. Our results indicate a distinctly nonexponential time dependence of the cumulants slightly below threshold and an oscillatory time dependence somewhat above threshold. One can interpret this oscillatory behavior as showing that the larger fluctuations above the mean decay more rapidly than those below the mean. Measurements of the third-order intensity cumulants above threshold would be desirable to check for this behavior and to provide a more rigorous test of the RWVP model than the second-order intensity correlation.