Abstract
We have investigated theoretically the applicability of phase-fluctuating laser fields in saturated absorption spectroscopy. The fluctuations of pump and probe fields are fully correlated if they are derived from the same laser source. Inside the saturable medium, phase fluctuations are converted into intensity noise. This nonlinear mixing modifies the statistics of the transmitted fields. By measuring higher-order correlations one can deduce additional spectroscopic information. Apart from the mean intensity, we have examined the intensity noise and intensity power spectrum of the weak probe field. The resonances of these correlation functions are also unaffected by large inhomogeneous broadening since they are inherently related to the usual saturated absorption dip. We find qualitative agreement with results of a recent experiment employing this technique [D. H. McIntyre et al., Opt. Lett. 18, 1816 (1993)], which demonstrates the advantages of noise spectroscopy using spectrum analyzers.
Published Version
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