Wemeasuretheelectromagneticdegreeoftemporalcoherenceandtheassociatedcoherencetimeforquasi-monochromaticunpolarizedlightbeamsemittedbyanLED,afilteredhalogenlamp,andamultimodeHe–Nelaser.ThemethodisbasedonobservingattheoutputofaMichelsoninterferometerthevisibilities(contrasts)oftheintensityandpolarization-statemodulationsexpressedintermsoftheStokesparameters.Theresultsareingoodagreementwiththosededuceddirectlyfromthesourcespectra.Themeasurementsarerepeatedafterpassingthebeamsthroughalinearpolarizersoastoelucidatetheroleofpolarizationinelectromagneticcoherence.Whilethepolarizervariestheequal-timedegreeofcoherenceconsistentlywiththetheoreticalpredictionsandalterstheinnerstructureofthecoherencematrix,thecoherencetimeremainsalmostunchangedwhenthelightvariesfromunpolarizedtopolarized.Theresultsareimportantintheareasofapplicationsdealingwithphysicalopticsandelectromagneticinterference.
