Statistical Accuracy in the Photon Counting Structure Function of Fluctuating Light Fields

Abstract

An analysis of the variance of the structure function coefficients of a train of digital photodetections, both unnormalized and with various normalizations, is made and compared with known corresponding results for the photon correlation function. A gaussian-lorentzian model light field is used in both direct and homodyne detection. Numerical simulations confirm and extend the analytical results, which show certain circumstances when the structure function may be a useful alternative measure of spectral content.