2-PHOTON CORRELATIONS IN AMPLIFIED LASER-LIGHT

The authors have measured the two-photon correlation function in 632.8-nm single-mode He-Ne laser light which had been amplified by stimulated emission in a long He-Ne discharge tube. For laser light intensities which were comparable with the discharge-tube spontaneous-emission intensity into a single mode, the measured correlations agree well with those predicted for a simple mixture of laser and chaotic light. The results are consistent with the assumption that laser light linearly amplified by stimulated emission has the same statistical properties as unamplified laser light. © 1979 The American Physical Society.