Near-field intensity correlations of scattered light

We show that the two-point correlation function in the near field of scatte red light is simply related to the scattered intensity distribution. We pre sent a new, to our knowledge, optical scheme to measure the correlation fun ction in the near field, and we describe a processing technique that permit s the subtraction of stray light on a statistical basis. We present experim ental data for solutions of latex spheres, and we show that this novel tech nique is a powerful alternative to static light scattering. (C) 2001 Optica l Society of America.