Quantum Theory of Interference Effects in the Mixing of Light from Phase-Independent Sources

Correlations in space and time of the light intensity from extended sources, observed by Brown and Twiss and by Forrester, were analyzed by these authors primarily in terms of field oscillations. This paper discusses an atomic process which brings out the intensity correlations, namely, the photoionization of a pair of atoms following photon emission by another pair of independently excited atoms. The calculated probability of this process depends sinusoidally on the relative positions of the four atoms and also, when the source atoms emit different frequencies, on the time interval between the photoionizations, in agreement with the macroscopic treatment. The oscillations arise from an interference of probability amplitudes which is not affected by the random phases of the source atoms. The calculation follows a standard approach but involves some novel detail.