Interference of Light in a Michelson-Morley Interferometer: A Quantum Optical Approach

Figure 4

The normalized intensity ⟨𝐼⟩(𝜏)/⟨𝐼⟩(0) as a function of 𝑎≡𝜏𝑘_𝐵𝑇₀/ℏ for the case of thermal light in the signal port and vacuum in the LO port and for 𝑑=3. We infer a characteristic thermal coherence time 𝜏_𝑐 in terms of 𝑎≃1.5 (dashed vertical line), that is, 𝜏_𝑐≃1.5ℏ/𝑘_𝐵𝑇.