Customizing speckle intensity statistics and correlations (Conference Presentation)

In this work, 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 -with a spatial light modulator- we experimentally generate speckle patterns possessing either arbitrarily-tailored intensity probability density functions (PDFs) or non-local spatial intensity correlations. Relative to Rayleigh speckles, our speckles with customized intensity PDFs exhibit radically different topologies yet maintain the same spatial correlation length. Furthermore, they are fully developed, ergodic, and stationary: with circular non-Gaussian statistics for the complex field. Furthermore, we can tailor the spatial intensity-correlations of speckle patterns: in particular, the non-local intensity correlations so that the speckle field and intensity spatially fluctuate on different length scales. We can even synthesize speckles with non-isotropic long-range intensity correlations, while the spatial field-correlation remains short-ranged and isotropic. Propagating away from the target plane, however, all of 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.