Overview of Spectral Redshifts Caused by Optical Correlations (original) (raw)

Abstract

The theory and measurement of optical spectra impact a wide range of scientific fields including spectroscopy and astrophysics. Under certain conditions, the spectral lines from sources and from scattering media can be shifted and spread or narrowed relative to their natural wavelengths and linewidths. These spectral modifications have been predicted from optical coherence theory by Wolf (Phys Rev Lett 56, p1370, 1986) and others and demonstrated in a host of experiments. The underlying physical mechanism involves correlations among the components of the radiating medium. The correlations may be understood at the microscopic level as due to interactions between the atoms induced by their radiation fields. However, the main features of this effect may be understood from a purely classical theory employing macroscopic optical correlation functions. We will present a high level, hopefully intuitive, overview of this theory. We will show that, under reasonable physical conditions, the p...

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