Abstract

Beyond the traditional concept of intensity images crystallized in our minds by direct sensorial experience, a new type of image has been revealing in recent experiments exploring fourth-order correlation functions g⁽⁴⁾ of special electromagnetic fields, even when no second-order correlation, or intensity image, exists. As an electromagnetic field is completely characterized by the knowledge of its correlation functins in all orders; these images just indicate an open field of study.

© 1996 Optical Society of America