Interference fringes with maximal contrast at finite coherence time

Interference fringes can result from the measurement of four-time fourth-order correlation functions of a wave field. These fringes have a statistical origin and, as a consequence, they show the greatest contrast when the coherence time of the field is finite. A simple acoustic experiment is present...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2002-10, Vol.89 (17), p.173901-173901, Article 173901
Main Author: Hamilton, M W
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Interference fringes can result from the measurement of four-time fourth-order correlation functions of a wave field. These fringes have a statistical origin and, as a consequence, they show the greatest contrast when the coherence time of the field is finite. A simple acoustic experiment is presented in which these fringes are observed, and it is demonstrated that the contrast is maximal for partial coherence. Random telegraph phase noise is used to vary the field coherence in order to highlight the problem of interpreting this interference; for this noise, the Gaussian moment theorem may not be invoked to reduce the description of the interference to one in terms of first-order interference.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.173901