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Physical Review Letters

Red shifts and blue shifts of spectral lines emitted by two correlated sources

E. Wolf

Published Jun 22, 1987• 129 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It has recently been shown theoretically that correlations between fluctuations of the source distribution at different source points can produce red shifts or blue shifts of emitted spectral lines. To facilitate experimental demonstration of this effect a simple example is analyzed. It involves only two small appropriately correlated sources and brings out the essential physical features of this new phenomenon.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.58.2646

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It has recently been shown theoretically that correlations between fluctuations of the source distribution at different source points can produce red shifts or blue shifts of emitted spectral lines. To facilitate experimental demonstration of this effect a simple example is analyzed. It involves only two small appropriately correlated sources and brings out the essential physical features of this new phenomenon.
It has recently been demonstrated both theoretically1-3 and experimentally4 that contrary to general belief, the spectrum of light emitted by a steady-state source depends, in general, not only on the source spectrum but also on the degree of correlation between the source fluctuations. When the source spectrum consists of a single line centered at frequency wo , the source correlation may cause the spectrum of the emitted light to be a line centered on a lower frequency < wo or at a higher frequency w'o > wA, depending on the particular form of the degree of correla?ion. Thus source correlations provide a new physical mechanism for redshifts or blueshifts of spectral lines. This newly discovered phenomenon is obviously-of particular interest for astronomy, where line shifts observed in the spectra of radiation from stellar objects have up to now always been assumed to be caused either by the motion of the stellar object relative to the observer (the Doppler effect) or as being due to gravitation. Examples of redshifted lines due to source correlations are shown in Fig. 1.
It has recently been shown that correlations between source fluctuations throughout the source region can lead to frequency shifts of spectral lines.1,2 We consider the more general problem of modifying the spectrum of the emitted radiation by making a suitable choice of the degree of spatial coherence of the source. To illustrate the potential of this method we consider a simple configuration of two small sources emitting light with identical spectra. We demonstrate that some source correlations can generate multiple spectral lines from a single spectral line of either a Gaussian or Lorentzian profile. Spectral line-shape parameters such as width, amplitude, center frequency, and functional form can also be controlled.
It has recently been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that the spectrum of light emitted by a source can be modified by changing the correlation properties of the source. We examine the possibility of using this mechanism to modulate spectra in a desired manner. A simple configuration is considered, consisting of two small sources, emitting identical spectral lines and we show that by suitably correlating the sources one can control the width, the amplitude and the frequency of the emitted light. The possibility of generating several lines from a single one is also considered.
It is generally taken for granted that the spectrum of light does not change on propagation. This belief is implicit in all spectroscopy. In the last few years it was discovered that while such spectral invariance holds for radiation from commonly used sources it does not hold, in general, because the spectrum of emitted radiation depends not only on the source spectrum but also on the coherence properties of the source. It was found that in some cases the induced changes may be appreciable, possibly resulting in frequency shifts of spectral lines. It has also been demonstrated that similar spectral changes may be produced by scattering on media whose dielectric susceptibility is appropriately correlated.