Third- and Higher-Order Intensity Correlation in Laser Light

Abstract

We have calculated the third- and higher-order (multitime) cumulants of the intensity of single-mode laser light using the rotating-wave van der Pol (RWVP) model. Our results indicate a distinctly nonexponential time dependence of the cumulants slightly below threshold and an oscillatory time dependence somewhat above threshold. One can interpret this oscillatory behavior as showing that the larger fluctuations above the mean decay more rapidly than those below the mean. Measurements of the third-order intensity cumulants above threshold would be desirable to check for this behavior and to provide a more rigorous test of the RWVP model than the second-order intensity correlation.