Scattering of Laser Light

Electromagnetic field correlations in three-dimensional speckles

“…Equation (14) leads to the very simple result σ Iα I α = 1 (15) showing that a fully developed speckle pattern exhibits large intensity fluctuations. This is another feature of the Rayleigh statistics.…”

“…The first reported observation of a speckle pattern produced by coherent laser light seems to be due to Langmuir, in 1963, shortly after the discovery of the laser [15]. In a so-called fully developed speckle pattern, the field at any point is the superposition of a large number of partial waves that are statistically independent in both amplitude and phase.…”

Numerical simulation of speckle noise in laser vibrometry

“…The phenomenon of laser speckle was first reported by researchers working with the very earliest continuous wave lasers in the early 1960s. They talked about a "remarkable granular or peppery nature not present in ordinary light" 1 , "a sparkling appearance" 2 and, less dramatically, "random dark and light spots" 3 . Much early work on laser speckle, described as "Enemy Number One" by Gabor 4 , was directed at eliminating its detrimental effect in holography until techniques such as Laser Speckle Photography 5,6 began to show how the speckle effect could be used to advantage in metrology.…”

Laser vibrometry meets laser speckle

“…They talked about a "remarkable granular or peppery nature not present in ordinary light" 1 , "a sparkling appearance" 2 and, less dramatically, "random dark and light spots" 3 . Much early work on laser speckle, described as "Enemy Number One" by Gabor 4 , was directed at eliminating its detrimental effect in holography until techniques such as Laser Speckle Photography 5,6 began to show how the speckle effect could be used to advantage in metrology.…”