Abstract : A brief review is presented of the basic notions and results of a theory formulated within the framework of classical optics to explain optical coherence phenomena. A stochastic description of light is given. Coherence effects of the second and fourth order are also presented.
This article presents a review of coherence properties of electromagnetic fields and their measurements, with special emphasis on the optical region of the spectrum. Analyses based on both the classical and quantum theories are described. After a brief historical introduction, the elementary concepts which are frequently employed in the discussion of interference phenomena are summarized. The measure of second-order coherence is then introduced in connection with the analysis of a simple interference experiment and some of the more important second-order coherence effects are studied. Their uses in stellar interferometry and interference spectroscopy are described. Analysis of partial polarization from the standpoint of correlation theory is also outlined. The general statistical description of the field is discussed in some detail. The recently discovered universal "diagonal" representation of the density operator for free fields is also considered and it is shown how, with the help of the associated generalized phase-space distribution function, the quantum-mechanical correlation functions may be expressed in the same form as the classical ones. The sections which follow deal with the statistical properties of thermal and nonthermal light, and with the temporal and spatial coherence of blackbody radiation. Later sections, dealing with fourth- and higher-order coherence effects include a discussion of the photoelectric detection process. Among the fourth-order effects described in detail are bunching phenomena, the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect and its application to astronomy. The article concludes with a discussion of various transient superposition effects, such as light beats and interference fringes produced by independent light beams.
Introduction In the preceding chapters we have been largely concerned with the simplest coherence effects of optical fields, namely those which depend on the correlation of the field variable at two space-time points ( r 1 , t 1 ) and ( r 2 , t 2 ). As we have seen, these effects include the most elementary coherence phenomena involving interference, diffraction and radiation from fluctuating sources. In this chapter we present an extension of the theory to cover more complicated situations, which have to be described by correlations of higher order, i.e. by correlations of the field variables at more than two space-time points or the expectation values involving various powers and products of the field variables. Situations of this kind have become of considerable importance since the development of the laser and of nonlinear optics. The basic difference between the statistical properties of thermal light and laser light can, in fact, only be understood by going beyond the elementary second-order correlation theory. Many of the higher-order coherence phenomena are most clearly manifest in the photoelectric detection process, which can only be adequately described by the quantum theory of detection or by taking into account the quantum features of the field, both of which will be studied in the succeeding chapters. However, because the field is still described classically in the semi-classical theory of light detection, and also because the classical field description provides a natural stepping stone to the quantum description of field correlations, we will now discuss the general description of field correlations of all orders on the basis of the classical theory of the fluctuating wavefield.
Introduction We will now study the properties of fluctuating electromagnetic fields, paying attention mainly to the optical region of the electromagnetic spectrum. It seems hardly necessary to stress that every electromagnetic field found in nature has some fluctuations associated with it. Even though these fluctuations are, as a rule, much too rapid to be observed directly, one can deduce their existence from suitable experiments that provide information about correlations between the fluctuations at two or more space-time points. The simplest manifestations of correlations in optical fields are the well-known interference effects that arise when two light beams that originate from the same source are superposed. With the availability of modern light detectors and electronic circuitry of very short resolving time, other types of correlations in optical fields began to be studied in more recent times. These investigations, as well as the development of lasers and other novel types of light sources, led to a systematic classification of optical correlation phenomena and the complete statistical description of optical fields. The area of optics concerned with such questions is now generally known as optical coherence theory . The first investigations of coherence phenomena are due to Verdet (1865, 1869) and von Laue (1907a, b). Some early investigations of Stokes (1852) and Michelson (1890, 1891a, b, c, 1892, 1920) although not explicitly mentioning coherence – because this concept is of a much later origin – have also contributed to the clarification and development of this subject.
A review is presented of various investigations on coherence and fluctuations of light which have been carried out within the last few years. In particular some of the research carried out at the University of Rochester and related investigations undertaken elsewhere are described. This research is mainly concerned with the following topics: classical and quantum description of higher order coherence effects, photon correlation and coincidence experiments, stellar correlation interferometry, photon bunching, and the determination of the statistical properties of light from photoelectric counting experiments.
The coherence properties of electromagnetic fields are reviewed, based on both the classical and quantum theories. The elementary concepts, employed frequently in the discussion of interference phenomena, are summarized. The well-known interference phenomena are described in terms of second-order coherences. The coherence theory in space-frequency domain is introduced and the coherent mode representation is presented. The generation and propagation of coherence of light are analysed and it is shown that the coherence of light is developed as light propagates. The quantum theory goes parallel with the classical theory, via the optical equivalence theorem. There are, however, certain nonclassical characteristics of light, which may not be easily understood in classical terms. These nonclassical phenomena are believed to originate from the particle aspects of light. The quantum effect on the interfernce phenomena is analysed and finally the outlook of the future research is briefly mentioned.
Abstract The study of the classical theory of optical fluctuations and coherence is an important preliminary to the development of the corresponding quantum-mechanical theory. The classical theory is useful for a physical understanding of the various effects and many of the classical concepts carry over into the quantum theory. In addition, a knowledge of the classical theory is useful for identification of the nature of the specifically quantum properties that some light beams may exhibit. Thus it is shown in Chapter 5 that the classical and quantum theories yield the ame predictions for chaotic light, but that there exist other kinds of light that elude any satisfactory classical description. The nature of such ‘nonclassical’ light i5, of course, more sharply appreciated by contrast with the limitations on the possible kinds of light inherent in the classical theory.