Experimental Study on Coherence Time of a Light Field with Single Photon Counting

The second-order degree of coherence of pseudo-thermal light and coherence time are experimentally studied via the Hanbruy-Brown-Twiss (HBT) scheme. The system consists of two non-photon-number-resolving single-photon-counting modules (SPCMs) operating in the Geiger mode. We investigate the coherence time of the incident beam for different spot sizes on a ground glass and speeds of a rotating ground glass. The corresponding coherence time can be obtained from Gaussian fitting for the measured second-order degree of coherence. The results show that the coherence time of measured pseudo-thermal light depends on the spot sizes and the rotating speeds of the ground glass. The maximum value of the second-order degree of coherence is reduced as the rotating speed decreases. This result can be well explained by the model of mixed thermal and coherent fields with different ratios.