Degree of spectral coherence, space–frequency plots and correlation-induced spectral changes

Measuring coherence functions using non-parallel double slits

“…If the power spectrum of the light and spectral response function of the detector are known a priori then only a single image need be recorded. This is in contrast to methods which require adjustable double slits or a monochromator, and therefore a large set of non-simultaneous measurements [3,7], or methods which are suited to narrow-band sources [12]. This capability allows for the rapid measurement of a coherence function and could possibly be used with moving or transient sources.…”

“…Many general methodologies for measuring the second-order coherence properties of a light field have been developed since the pioneering experiments of Thompson and Wolf [1]. In particular, the complex degree of coherence can be measured through a series of Thompson-Wolf experiments or other interferometric methods [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. The same coherence function can also be extracted through measurements of related functions which represent transformations of the mutual coherence function over one or more of its variables, such as Wigner or ambiguity functions [17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…Within the interferometric methods, several clever solutions stand out. These solutions include automated methods for controlling the placement of two pinholes [2,3], Sagnac interferometry [4], spectroscopic or optically filtered measurements [5][6][7][8], redundant [9,10] and non-redundant [11][12][13] arrays of pinholes or slits, reversedwavefront interferometry [14], programmable apertures [15], and diffractive elements which modify a two-pinhole interference pattern [16].…”

Analysis of the loss of coherence in interferometry with macromolecules

“…( 33) (for a treatment of which we remind also to the section 9.1 of Joos in [18]) appears for any choice of the density matrix ρ 0 (x, x ′ ) and in every case in which a particle is subjected to an uncontrollable source of random "kicks" which produces instantaneous shifts in momentum, as in Eq. (31). Moreover, in case of random kicks with a mean momentum transfer position-dependent (for example, in case of van der Waals interaction between crossing particles and atoms of the grating), the effect on the initial state consists in an effective reduction of the aperture width [28].…”

“…Now it is useful to recall an important result from the classical theory of partial coherence. The pattern visibility V CO of a quasimonochromatic field, equally split by a pair of slits, coincides with the modulus of the spectral degree of coherence µ(λ) [14,31], which characterizes the field correlation in the space-frequency domain…”