Abstract

Recently there has been a growing interest in understanding the triple correlations of fluctuating phenomena and the related bispectra in optics. In the past the triple correlations have been used in spectroscopy, 3-D laser Doppler velocimeter, and the study of intensity fluctuations of laser beams. Recently they have been found useful in the new computer architectures and in speckle interferograms in optical astronomy. Given the growing importance of the triple correlations, it would be useful if an expression could be obtained for the three-point density functions for the intensity and phase of a monochromatic laser speckle pattern. For the Gaussian speckle one can use the Reed theorem to obtain all the higher-order triple moments of the intensity (intensity only but not of phase) if the fields are complex-Gaussian, which does not require knowledge of the three-point density functions. In problems connected with optical radar and information processing, where there is a need to estimate the probability of error in SNR calculations and to evaluate the conditional density functions, the three-point density functions are needed. Keeping this in mind, the three-point density functions for the intensity and phase of a laser speckle pattern are developed.

© 1988 Optical Society of America