We theoretically investigated the mechanism of two-mode quadrature squeezing in a regime of four-wave mixing in a $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ scheme of three-level atoms embedded in a thermal reservoir. We demonstrated that the process of nonlinear transfer of noise from the low frequency of ground state splitting to the optical frequency is significant if the number of thermal photons at the low frequency is high. We have shown that correct calculation of the two-mode squeezing level taking into account both thermal noise and distortion of dissipative properties of the thermally excited medium resulted in a simple expression for the maximum squeezing level, which is defined by the ground-state coherence decay rate and the drive-field intensity. We found the optimal conditions for squeezing, in particular, the optimal density-length product of the active medium depending on the atomic relaxation parameters and the drive-field intensity.
We theoretically investigated the mechanism of two-mode quadrature squeezing in a regime of four-wave mixing in a \ensuremathΛ scheme of three-level atoms embedded in a thermal reservoir. We demonstrated that the process of nonlinear transfer of noise from the low frequency of ground state splitting to the optical frequency is significant if the number of thermal photons at the low frequency is high. We have shown that correct calculation of the two-mode squeezing level taking into account both thermal noise and distortion of dissipative properties of the thermally excited medium resulted in a simple expression for the maximum squeezing level, which is defined by the ground-state coherence decay rate and the drive-field intensity. We found the optimal conditions for squeezing, in particular, the optimal density-length product of the active medium depending on the atomic relaxation parameters and the drive-field intensity.
Light emitted from laser-driven atoms often has squeezed quadrature fluctuations reflecting the phase dependence of the atomic source excited into a coherent superposition by the driving field. In this paper, we study the maximum squeezing in the emitted light fields from three-level atoms, paying particular attention to the role of atomic coherences in governing the optimum squeezing which is possible. Some phase dependent nonlinear optical processes have the potential for substantial quantum noise reduction at useful intensities: for example, four-wave mixing involving atomic systems has already been used to generate quadrature-squeezed light. The threoretical description of such a source is generally complicated with damping processes, coherent and incoherent pumping, and so on, all needing to be taken into account. Fully quantum treatments are available, but the basic physics of the process is often difficult to grasp in the necessarily complicated analysis. Although less important from the point of view of efficient practical sources of squeezed light, studying the generation of squeezed light in simpler systems such as two- or three-level atoms interacting with one or two modes (as in Jaynes-Cummings models) or in spontaneous emission or resonance fluorescence gives greater insight into the fundamentals of the squeezing process. In particular, the relationship between the atomic coherences and the degree of squeezing in the generated fields can be explored. We study the maximum (optimized) squeezing that can be obtained in the emitted fields from the irreversible decay from three-level atoms for any choice of initial conditions, excitations and decay process, for all quadrature components and for all possible configurations (V, \ensuremath{\Lambda}, and ``ladder'' systems).We show that for V and \ensuremath{\Lambda} systems, optimum squeezing is actually associated with a two-level state (in a suitable basis) involving a single one-photon coherence, but for ladder systems the state for maximum noise reduction is not equivalent to a two-level system and involves a single two-photon coherence and no intermediate state population. We pay particular attention to whether the total field is in a minimum uncertainty state, and the nature of the atomic state associated with maximum squeezing, especially whether it is a mixed or pure state. In the case where the initial free field has a zero amplitude at the detector and the source atoms are confined to a region small compared to the wavelength (Dicke source) we show that the squeezing in the total field is given in terms of the squeezing in the source field, and hence related to atomic populations and atomic one-photon and two-photon coherences for the case of three level atom. Previously unconsidered source-free field interferences terms are shown to be zero. The choice of quadrature phase and frequency is optimized to minimize the source field normally ordered variance. We then minimize further with respect to the choice of atomic density matrix elements subject to the constraints that the density matrix is Hermitean, positive, and has a trace equal to unity. In all cases we find that the optimum squeezing is produced when the source field is in a minimum uncertainty state.
The authors present a quantum analysis of four-wave mixing in a non-resonant nonlinear medium inside a cavity which is driven by two driving fields. In this process a nonlinear medium couples two pump modes with a signal mode of the frequency equal to the half-sum of the two pump field frequencies. Three types of stable steady-state solutions of the deterministic problem, describing three regimes of oscillation, are found: one below threshold and two different above-threshold regimes. The spectra of fluctuations of the quadrature-phase amplitudes for all three modes are calculated. It is found that in the above-threshold regime each of three modes may display a squeezed noise reduction. Below threshold a squeezing is realized for the central mode.
Abstract We investigate the quantum statistical and squeezing properties of radiation generated by a coherently driven three-level laser system coupled to a squeezed vacuum reservoir. The analysis is carried out using c-number Langevin equations for normally ordered operator moments, allowing a transparent description of the interplay among atomic coherence, coherent driving, and reservoir-induced correlations. We show that significant quadrature squeezing can be achieved under appropriate conditions, with the degree of squeezing strongly influenced by the linear gain coefficient of the squeezed-vacuum reservoir, the strength of the coherent driving, and the initial atomic preparation. In particular, we find that maximal initial atomic coherence alone does not lead to squeezing in the absence of coherent driving, highlighting the essential role of phase-sensitive amplification. The results further reveal a shift of optimal squeezing toward lower values of the atomic coherence parameter and higher values of the driving strength as the gain and reservoir squeezing increase. In addition, we demonstrate the coexistence of strong quadrature squeezing with super-Poissonian photon statistics, reflecting the distinct roles of phase-sensitive and intensity fluctuations. The squeezing spectrum is also analyzed to provide frequency-resolved insight into noise suppression, directly relevant to homodyne-detection measurements. These findings clarify the trade-off between coherent excitation, which enhances phase-sensitive correlations, and photon population growth, which tends to increase intensity fluctuations, and they highlight parameter regimes where strong nonclassical effects can be realized under parameter regimes consistent with experimentally demonstrated cavity-QED and squeezed-light implementations.
In this paper, we investigated the steady-state analysis of the squeezing and statistical properties of the light generated by N two-level atoms available in a closed cavity pumped by a coherent light with the cavity coupled to a singele mode vacuum reservoir. Here we consider the noise operators associated with the vacuum reservoir in normal order. Applying the solutions of the equations of evolution for the expectation values of the atomic operators and the quantum Langavin equations for the cavity mode operators, we obtain the mean photon number, the photon number variance, and the quadrature squeezing. The three-level laser generates squeezed light under certain conditions, with maximum global squeezing being 43%. Moreover, we found that the maximum local quadrature squeezing is 80:2% (and occurs at λ = 0:08). Furthermore, our results have shown that the local quadrature squeezing, unlike the local mean of the phonon number and photon number variance does not increase as the value of λ increases. It is also found that, unlike the mean photon number, the variance of the photon number, and the quadrature variance, the quadrature squeezing does not depend on the number of atoms. This implies that the quadrature squeezing of the two-mode cavity light is independent of the number of photons.
The possibility of generating light in a squeezed quantum state during saturated light amplification in a semiconductor amplifier is theoretically analyzed. Due to four-wave mixing process during amplification, weak components of the spontaneous emission of the medium with symmetric frequency shifts relative to the strong amplified wave acquire the quantum properties of two-mode squeezed light. The squeezing of quadrature components occurs in the range of frequency shifts of several GHz (∼ the inverse relaxation time of the charge carrier density) and can reach 10 dB or more under optimal conditions. The formation of a two-mode squeezing phase facilitates the observation of the squeezing effect, in which a strong wave, playing the role of a local wave, exhibits quadrature noise suppression without additional homodyne detection.
The interaction of classical and quantized electromagnetic fields with an ensemble of atoms in an optical cavity is considered. Four fields drive a double-lambda level scheme in the atoms, consisting of a pair of lambda systems sharing the same set of lower levels. Two of the fields produce maximum coherence, rho12 = -1/2, between the ground state sublevels 1 and 2. This pumping scheme involves equal intensity fields that are resonant with both the one and two-photon transitions of the lambda system. There is no steady-state absorption of these fields, implying that the fields induce a type electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) in the medium. An additional pair of fields interacting with the second lambda system, combined with the EIT fields, leads to squeezing of the atom spin associated with the ground state sublevels. Our method involves a new mechanism for creating steady-state spin squeezing using an optical cavity. As the cooperativity parameter C is increased, the optimal squeezing varies as C^{-1/3}. For experimentally accessible values of C, squeezing as large as 90% can be achieved.