Intensity fluctuations and the degree of cross-polarization in stochastic electromagnetic beams

    Authors

    S. N. Volkov; D. F. V. James; T. Shirai;E. Wolf

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Opt. A-Pure Appl. Opt.

    Keywords

    polarization; coherence; Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect; SPACE-FREQUENCY DOMAIN; STOKES PARAMETERS; COHERENT BEAMS; LIGHT; INTERFEROMETRY; PHOTONS; STATE; Optics

    Abstract

    An expression is derived for the correlation between intensity fluctuations at pairs of points in a stochastic electromagnetic beam, obeying Gaussian statistics. The new formula, which is of particular interest for the theory of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect, applies to beams of any state of coherence and state of polarization. It contains a new 'two-point' degree of polarization whose presence indicates that, in general, the knowledge of the degree of coherence and of the usual degree of polarization are not adequate for determining the correlation between intensity fluctuations.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Optics a-Pure and Applied Optics

    Volume

    10

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    4

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000256148900001

    ISSN

    1464-4258

    Share

    COinS