Statistical Analysis of Randomly Modulated Laser Light

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Abstract
A modified Michelson interferometer in which one of the mirrors is driven by a piezoelectric crystal connected to a Gaussian random-noise generator has been used to phase modulate a light beam from a Spectra Physics 119 model laser. The recombination of the modulated and the unmodulated beam reflected by a stationary prism generates a randomly varying interference pattern whose intensity distribution has been analyzed by means of a standard photon-counting technique. The experimental data agree with the theoretical semiclassical predictions in the range of linearity of the piezoelectric crystal. Deviations from the theory have been detected and correlated with the hysteresis of the crystal for large root-mean-square voltages applied to it.

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