Laser Speckle Pattern - A Narrowband Noise Model

The speckle pattern in the image of a coherently illuminated and diffusely reflecting object has been analyzed by Enloe1. Enloe's results show a remarkable similarity to some results occurring in the theory of narrowband noise (See Ref. 2, pp. 397 ff.). This similarity prompts the question whether Enloe's results can be derived by the use of an electrical model analogy involving narrowband noise.* In this paper we will show that this is indeed possible for the special case of a one-dimensional subject and an optical system with a rectangular aperture. The analysis is simple because we can use results known in communication theory and the results agree with those of Enloe1.