Intensity-intensity correlations as a probe of interferences under conditions of noninterference in the intensity Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The different behavior of first-order interferences and second-order correlations are investigated for the case of two coherently excited atoms. For intensity measurements this problem is in many respects equivalent to Youngs double-slit experiment and was investigated in an experiment by Eichmann et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2359 (1993)] and later analyzed in detail by Itano et al. [Phys. Rev. A 57, 4176 (1998)]. Our results show that in cases where the intensity interferences disappear the intensity-intensity correlations can display an interference pattern with a visibility of up to 100%. The contrast depends on the polarization selected for the detection and is independent of the strength of the driving field. The nonclassical nature of the calculated intensity-intensity correlations is also discussed. 2002 The American Physical Society.

published proceedings

  • Physical Review A

author list (cited authors)

  • Agarwal, G. S., von Zanthier, J., Skornia, C., & Walther, H.

citation count

  • 33

complete list of authors

  • Agarwal, GS||von Zanthier, J||Skornia, C||Walther, H

publication date

  • May 2002