Heterodyne measurement of Wigner distributions for classical optical fields.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

We demonstrate a two-window heterodyne method for measuring the x-p cross correlation, ??(*)(x)? (p)?, of an optical field ? for transverse position x and transverse momentum p. This scheme permits independent control of the x and p resolution. A simple linear transform of the x-p correlation function yields the Wigner phase-space distribution. This technique is useful for both coherent and low-coherence light sources and may permit new biological imaging techniques based on transverse coherence measurement with time gating. We point out an interesting analogy between x-p correlation measurements for classical-wave and quantum fields.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Lee, KF; Reil, F; Bali, S; Wax, A; Thomas, JE

Published Date

  • October 1999

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 24 / 19

Start / End Page

  • 1370 - 1372

PubMed ID

  • 18079807

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1539-4794

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0146-9592

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1364/ol.24.001370

Language

  • eng