title: Unequivocal differentiation of coherent and chaotic light through interferometric photon correlation measurements.
abstract: We present a novel experimental technique that can differentiate unequivocally between chaotic light and coherent light with amplitude fluctuations, and thus permits us to characterize unambiguously the output of a laser. This technique consists of measuring the second-order intensity cross correlation at the outputs of an unbalanced Michelson interferometer. It is applied to a chaotic light source and to the output of a semiconductor nanolaser whose "standard" intensity correlation function above threshold displays values compatible with a mixture of coherent and chaotic light. Our experimental results demonstrate that the output of such lasers is not partially chaotic but is indeed a coherent state with amplitude fluctuations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Photonique et Nanostructures, LPN-CNRS UPR-20, Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lebreton
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abram
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Braive
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sagnes
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Robert-Philip
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beveratos