Light with tunable non-Markovian phase imprint

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple method to generate and control spatially non-Markovian light with tunable coherence, demonstrated through diffraction patterns, serving as a versatile platform to study non-Markovian phenomena.

Contribution

A novel, flexible approach to produce tunable non-Markovian light in one and two dimensions, with experimental validation through diffraction pattern analysis.

Findings

Observation of dark regions in diffraction patterns indicating non-Markovian coherence.

Control over the shape and size of dark regions by tuning coherence properties.

Method's potential as a testbed for studying non-Markovian processes.

Abstract

We introduce a simple and flexible method to generate spatially non-Markovian light with tunable coherence properties in one and two dimensions. The unusual behavior of this light is demonstrated experimentally by probing the far field and recording its diffraction pattern after a double slit: In both cases we observe instead of a central intensity maximum a line or cross shaped dark region, whose width and profile depend on the non-Markovian coherence properties. Since these properties can be controlled and easily reproduced in experiment, the presented approach lends itself to serve as a testbed to gain a deeper understanding of non-Markovian processes.