The Entropy Flow of a Laser Beam

Abstract

A laser beam is often modelled by a pure coherent state. In fact its state is mixed, even if it has coherent-state photon-number statistics (Poissonian), because the phase must vary. We consider such an ideal laser beam, with phase diffusion rate $\ell$, equal to its (Lorentzian) spectral width. We show that the beam entropy is extensive, with an entropy flow of $\dot{S} = k_B \sqrt{\dot{N}\ell}$, where $\dot{N}$ is the number flow. We give an intuitive explanation for this remarkably simple result, and compare it to a unidirectional thermal beam's.