Length dependence of laser photon statistics

Cheng‐Liang Huang, L. Mandeļ

Muhammad Suhail Zubairy

Cheng‐Liang Huang, L. Mandeļ

The question of how the light output of a laser and its fluctuations depend on the optical-cavity length at a given frequency is investigated theoretically for a laser oscillating in a single Gaussian mode. The treatment is quantum mechanical, and is based on the Scully-Lamb laser model, except that a perturbation expansion is used and possible cooperative atomic effects are included. It is shown, with the help of some reasonable approximations, that the probability distribution of the photon-occupation number can be cast into a form that is similar to the Scully-Lamb formula, but with coefficients that depend on cavity length in a more complicated way. Curves are presented that illustrate the behavi\`or and should lend themselves to experimental test.

Gabriel Bédard

T. Akhmadzhanov, Aslan Nasirov

We have measured the photon statistics of modulated laser radiation passed through a multimode optical fiber. A dependence is found of the photocount number variance on the average power of the radiation coupled into the fiber. The relations of the photocount probability distribution P(n) to frequency and percentage modulation of the radiation, as well as from length and excitation condition of optical fiber were studied.

C. W. J. Beenakker