Understanding Spectral Coherence w/ Radiation Sources

[pbeierle]

TL;DR Summary

What is the relationship between spectral coherence with respect to a radiation source's mean wavelength and bandwidth? I have no idea how to estimate, given a particular radiation spectrum from a source, what it's spectral coherence is going to be.

What is the relationship between spectral coherence with respect to a radiation source's mean wavelength and bandwidth? I have no idea how to estimate, given a particular radiation spectrum from a source, what it's spectral coherence is going to be.

 

[Charles Link]

A couple simple calculations should get you there: ## L_c=c \Delta t ##, and ## \Delta t=\frac{1}{\Delta f} ## (approximately). Since ## f=\frac{c}{\lambda} ##, ## |\Delta f|=\frac{c}{\lambda^2}\Delta \lambda ##. The result is ## L_c=\frac{\lambda^2}{\Delta \lambda} ##, so that ## \Delta \lambda=\frac{\lambda^2}{L_c} ## if I got all of the algebra right. ## \\ ## See also http://electron6.phys.utk.edu/optics421/modules/m5/Coherence.htm Factors of 2 and ##\pi ## are somewhat arbitrary here.