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Undergraduate experiments on statistical optics

Since the pioneering experiments of Forrester et al (1955 Phys. Rev. 99 1691) and Hanbury Brown and Twiss (1956 Nature 177 27; Nature 178 1046), along with the introduction of the laser in the 1960s, the systematic analysis of random fluctuations of optical fields has developed to become an indispensible part of physical optics for gaining insight into features of the fields. In 1985 Joseph W Goodman prefaced his textbook on statistical optics with a strong commitment to the ‘tools of probability and statistics’ (Goodman 2000 Statistical Optics (New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.)) in the education of advanced optics. Since then a wide range of novel undergraduate optical counting experiments and corresponding pedagogical approaches have been introduced to underpin the rapid growth of the interest in coherence and photon statistics. We propose low cost experimental steps that are a fair way off ‘real’ quantum optics, but that give deep insight into random optical fluctuation phenomena: (1) the introduction of statistical methods into undergraduate university optical lab work, and (2) the connection between the photoelectrical signal and the characteristics of the light source. We describe three experiments and theoretical approaches which may be used to pave the way for a well balanced growth of knowledge, providing students with an opportunity to enhance their abilities to adapt the ‘tools of probability and statistics’.