Precise Photon Correlation Measurement of a Chaotic Laser

Abstract

The second order photon correlation g(2)(τ) of a chaotic optical-feedback semiconductor laser is precisely measured using a Hanbury Brown–Twiss interferometer. The accurate g(2)(τ) with non-zero delay time is obtained experimentally from the photon pair time interval distribution through a ninth-order self-convolution correction. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical analysis. The relative error of g(2)(τ) is no more than 5‰ within 50 ns delay time. The bunching effect and coherence time of the chaotic laser are measured via the precise photon correlation technique. This technique provides a new tool to improve the accuracy of g(2)(τ) measurement and boost applications of quantum statistics and correlation.