Photon correlation spectroscopy with incoherent light

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that photon correlation spectroscopy can be performed using a short-coherence light source by modifying its coherence properties, eliminating the need for beam filtering and maintaining measurement effectiveness.

Contribution

The authors introduce a novel 'skewed-coherence' light beam that enables PCS with incoherent light sources, broadening the technique's applicability.

Findings

Short-coherence light sources can be used in PCS with modified coherence properties.

Skewed-coherence beams restore coherence requirements without reducing brightness.

This method simplifies PCS setup by removing the need for beam filtering.

Abstract

Photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) is based on measuring the temporal correlation of the light intensity scattered by the investigated sample. A typical setup requires a temporally coherent light source. Here, we show that a short-coherence light source can be used as well, provided that its coherence properties are suitably modified. This results in a "skewed-coherence" light beam allowing that restores the coherence requirements. This approach overcomes the usual need for beam filtering, which would reduce the total brightness of the beam.