Optical coherence theory for the complex envelopes of passband fields has been concerned, almost exclusively, with correlations that are all phase insensitive, despite decades of theoretical and experimental work on the generation and applications of light with phase-sensitive correlations. This paper begins the process of remedying that deficiency, by developing coherence theory for classical scalar fields with phase-sensitive fluctuations. In particular, the Wolf equations are extended to phase-sensitive fields, paraxial free-space propagation effects are analyzed, and a normal-mode decomposition for scalar fields of arbitrary coherence is established. The extension of this theory to the field-operator description that is needed to characterize non-classical light beams is briefly discussed.

Date Published: 29 August 2006
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 6305, Quantum Communications and Quantum Imaging IV, 63050G (29 August 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.679546

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6305:
Quantum Communications and Quantum Imaging IV
Ronald E. Meyers; Yanhua Shih; Keith S. Deacon, Editor(s)