Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-optics-and-electrodynamics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-1/1/b/solution

Spatial coherence compares the electric fields at different positions at a common time; temporal coherence compares the field with itself at a delay. Experimentally, they control whether separated apertures or unequal optical paths can form stable interference fringes. They are correlation properties, not a requirement that every emitted wave have a deterministic phase.
The source diameter is . At a representative visible wavelength ,
For a uniformly bright circular disc, the first visibility zero is at ; the coefficient depends on the chosen coherence criterion and brightness distribution. Atmospheric phase fluctuations can further spoil measured coherence.
For an explicitly assumed broad visible band from to , the frequency span is . Consequently
Thus broadband planetary light has millimetre-scale transverse and micrometre-scale longitudinal coherence. The receiver band is not supplied: a narrow filter would increase the temporal coherence length, so this is a stated broadband estimate, not a unique source-only constant.

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