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Physical Review Letters

Higher-Order Correlation Properties of a Laser Beam

S. Chopra, L. Mandeļ

Published Jan 8, 1973• 36 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The intrinsic third-order intensity correlation function of a laser beam has been measured by a digital correlation technique, for a He: Ne laser operating near threshold. The results are compared with some recent calculations of Cantrell, Lax, and Smith and are found to be in good agreement.
DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.30.60

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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.
Introduction The investigation of the coherence properties of light sources has traditionally involved the study of correlation functions of different orders of the electric field (Born and Wolf, 1975; Mandel and Wolf, 1965). Field and intensity correlation functions have been measured for laser light (for a review, see Lax and Zwanziger, 1973) and have been compared with predictions obtained from quantum laser theory (Haken, 1970, 1981; Lax, 1969; Louisell, 1973; Sargent, Scully and Lamb, 1974). This was, in fact, one of the major confirmations of the correctness of the basic formalism of quantum laser theory. Most of the experiments that probed the coherence properties of lasers were, however, carried out on a very limited variety of lasing media. Interest was also centered on the regime of operation near threshold, where the light from the laser is extremely weak; hence photoelectron counting and correlation techniques were developed for the measurement of coherence properties of the laser light. While these early experiments were performed with the main intent of testing the basic theory, the large variety of lasers now available, and their ever more demanding applications, make it necessary to develop new methods for the measurement and analysis of laser fluctuations. These techniques should be applicable to the measurement of noise in high power lasers; at the same time, in order to delineate the limits of usage, they must be sensitive enough to quantitatively determine the quantum mechanical sources of noise which may lie buried in external noise that is many orders of magnitude larger.