Fluctuation properties of multiplied-Poisson light: Measurement of the photon-counting distribution for radioluminescence radiation from glass

We investigate the photon statistics of light whose intensity fluctuations are due to shot noise, such as occurs in certain kinds of luminescence involving multiplied-Poisson processes. The degrees of freedom and degeneracy parameters are obtained and contrasted with those for thermal light. The excess count variance for shot-noise light exhibits particle-like fluctuations and is maximized for large counting times. Radioluminescence photons produced in glass obey the Neyman type-$A$ counting distribution predicted by the theory.