FIELD CROSS-CORRELATION OF TIME-DELAYED DFWM SIGNALS FOR POPULATION LIFETIME MEASUREMENT WITH INCOHERENT-LIGHT

Two techniques are Proposed for measurement of population lifetime with incoherent light, based on the recording of the field cross-correlation between two time-delayed DFWM signals. Theoretical calculations predict that such records exhibit the decay of the population with a resolution given by the coherence time of the light, and against a zero background. An experiment is reported, demonstrating the main theoretical predictions. The features and possibilities of the methods are discussed.