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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

A Photonic System for Generating Unconditional Polarization-Entangled Photons Based on Multiple Quantum Interference
Published on: September 5, 2019
Can two-photon correlation of chaotic light be considered as correlation of intensity fluctuations?
Giuliano Scarcelli1, Vincenzo Berardi, Yanhua Shih
1Department of Physics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, USA.
Abstract:
Two-photon correlation phenomena, including the historical experiment of Hanbury Brown and Twiss, may have to be described quantum mechanically, regardless of whether the source of radiation is classical or quantum. Supporting this point, we present a ghost imaging type of second-order spatial correlation experiment of chaotic light to show that the classical understanding based on the concept of statistical intensity fluctuations does not give a correct interpretation for the observation. From a practical point of view, this experiment demonstrates the possibility of having high contrast lensless two-photon imaging with chaotic light, suggesting imaging applications for radiations for which no effective lens is available.
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