Customizing Speckle Intensity Statistics

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to tailor the intensity statistics of speckle patterns by phase modulation, enabling customized speckles with specific statistical properties for advanced optical applications.

Contribution

A novel experimental approach for generating speckle patterns with arbitrary intensity probability-density functions through phase-front modulation.

Findings

Customized speckles differ topologically from Rayleigh speckles.

The method produces fully developed, ergodic, stationary speckles with non-Gaussian statistics.

Customized speckles revert to Rayleigh patterns upon propagation.

Abstract

We develop a general method for customizing the intensity statistics of speckle patterns on a target plane. By judiciously modulating the phase-front of a monochromatic laser beam, we experimentally generate speckle patterns with arbitrarily-tailored intensity probability-density functions. Relative to Rayleigh speckles, our customized speckles exhibit radically different topologies yet maintain the same spatial correlation length. The customized speckles are fully developed, ergodic, and stationary: with circular non-Gaussian statistics for the complex field. Propagating away from the target plane, the customized speckles revert back to Rayleigh speckles. This work provides a versatile framework for tailoring speckle patterns with varied applications in microscopy, imaging and optical manipulation.