Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Laser with large photon correlation times

Siegfried Großmann, Werner Krauth

Published Mar 1, 1987• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Laser light is known to have a very small field linewidth (proportional to the inverse pump rate, far above threshold), while the photon intensity correlation decays quickly (intensity linewidth proportional to the pump rate). Here we study the polarization-symmetric laser as a device to provide a small photon linewidth, proportional to the inverse pump rate. The physical explanation is discussed, and the behavior throughout the whole nonlinear threshold range is reported.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.35.2523

Related papers

Effect of laser intensity fluctuations on laser linewidth

Ning Lu

We study the linewidth of a one-photon laser through the approach of the two-time correlation function. Our numerical calculations cover the regions of below, near, and above threshold. Well below threshold, the laser linewidth decreases linearly with increasing linear gain. Near and above threshold, in comparison with the approximate linewidth given by the phase-diffusion coefficient at the mean photon number (which is inversely proportional to the laser intensity---the Schawlow-Townes formula), we find that the laser intensity fluctuations increase the laser linewidth and that the Schawlow-Townes formula is valid only when the mean photon number is large and the photon-number variance is much smaller than the square of the mean photon number. Near threshold, the laser linewidth can be twice as large as that given by the phase-diffusion coefficient at the mean photon number (i.e., twice as large as that given by the Schawlow-Townes formula).

Physical Review A•May 1, 1993•7 citations

Laser with thresholdless intensity fluctuations

N. J. van Druten, Yngve Lien, Carles Serrat +3 more

We have studied the quantum-noise properties of a small slow-inversion laser experimentally and theoretically. As a function of pump rate, the average output intensity shows a sharp threshold, but the intensity fluctuations do not. Under quite generic conditions the intensity fluctuations of a sufficiently small slow-inversion laser show highly super-Poissonian statistics (even two times above threshold), due to the very weak damping of the spontaneous-emission-driven relaxation oscillation.

Physical Review A•Oct 17, 2000•46 citations

Two-photon squeezed laser with long-lived atoms

Ashish Agarwal, Rupamanjari Ghosh

We present the quantum theory of a two-photon nonlinear laser when the lasing medium consists of long-lived atoms. There is no population inversion in this laser, but the system exhibits gain arising from the four-wave-mixing process in an active nonlinear medium. The strong phase correlation between the photons generated in four-wave mixing leads to a narrower than usual linewidth of the two-photon laser far above threshold. The laser output is also squeezed. Systems with a higher lifetime have the advantage of requiring a lower pump to reach the threshold of laser oscillation. We give explicit solutions for the noise spectrum of the intensity difference of the two output modes in the steady state and show that it is highly squeezed even for non-Markov systems.

Physical Review A•Aug 1, 1994•8 citations

Nonlinear theory of a two-photon correlated-spontaneous-emission laser: A coherently pumped two-level–two-photon laser

Ning Lü, Fang-Xiao Zhao, János A. Bergou

We develop a nonlinear theory of a two-photon correlated-spontaneous-emission laser (CEL) by using an effective interaction Hamiltonian for a two-level system coupled by a two-photon transition. Assuming that the active atoms are prepared initially in a coherent superposition of two atomic levels involved in the two-photon transition, we derive a master equation for the field-density operator by using our quantum theory for coherently pumped lasers. The steady-state properties of the two-photon CEL are studied by converting the field master equation into a Fokker-Planck equation for the antinormal-ordering Q representation of the field-density operator. Because of the injected atomic coherence, the drift and diffusion coefficients become phase sensitive. This leads to laser phase locking and an extra two-photon CEL gain. The laser field can build up from a vacuum in the no-population-inversion region, in contrast to an ordinary two-photon laser for which triggering is needed. We find an approximate steady-state solution of the Q representation for the laser field, which consists of two identical peaks of elliptical type. We calculate the phase variance and, for any given mean photon number, obtain the minimum variance in the phase quadrature as a function of the initial atomic variables. Squeezing of the quantum noise in the phase quadrature is found and it exhibits the following features: (1) it is possible only when the laser intensity is smaller than a certain value; (2) it becomes most significant for small mean photon number, which is achievable in the no-population-inversion region; and (3) a maximum of 50% squeezing can be asymptotically approached in the small laser intensity limit. As a by-product we also study the ordinary two-photon laser and find, e.g., photon-number variance and laser linewidth.

Physical Review A•May 1, 1989•69 citations

Stochastic pumping of a polariton fluid

Marc Aßmann, M. Bayer

We investigate the response of a polariton laser driven slightly off-resonantly using light fields differing from the routinely studied coherent pump sources. The response to driving light fields with thermal and displaced thermal statistics with varying correlation times shows significant differences in the transmitted intensity, its noise, and the position of the nonlinear threshold. We predict that adding more photons on average may actually reduce the transmission through the polariton system.

arXiv:1505.05456•Physical Review A•May 20, 2015•25 citations

Polarization correlated-emission laser and the influence of pump statistics

Claus Benkert, Marlan O. Scully

We propose a new kind of correlated-spontaneous-emission laser in which the electromagnetic field is driven by coherently prepared atoms. Such a system constitutes a very simple correlated-emission scheme in that it involves only single-photon transitions, whereas all previous studies were based on correlated photon pairs. We find that for low intensities the fluctuations in the photon number can be reduced below the standard limit while the phase noise is unaffected by the atomic coherence. However, the amount of noise reduction crucially depends on the fluctuations of the pump mechanism. In the high-intensity limit the photon-number fluctuations can be reduced even further. It is possible to achieve a complete quenching of the spontaneous-emission noise and even squeezing, depending on the atomic coherence and the statistical properties of the pump mechanism. Additionally we find a large reduction in the phase fluctuations. In contrast to the amplitude noise, this reduction is independent of the pump noise.

Physical Review A•Sep 1, 1990•22 citations
Laser light is known to have a very small field linewidth (proportional to the inverse pump rate, far above threshold), while the photon intensity correlation decays quickly (intensity linewidth proportional to the pump rate). Here we study the polarization-symmetric laser as a device to provide a small photon linewidth, proportional to the inverse pump rate. The physical explanation is discussed, and the behavior throughout the whole nonlinear threshold range is reported.
We study the linewidth of a one-photon laser through the approach of the two-time correlation function. Our numerical calculations cover the regions of below, near, and above threshold. Well below threshold, the laser linewidth decreases linearly with increasing linear gain. Near and above threshold, in comparison with the approximate linewidth given by the phase-diffusion coefficient at the mean photon number (which is inversely proportional to the laser intensity---the Schawlow-Townes formula), we find that the laser intensity fluctuations increase the laser linewidth and that the Schawlow-Townes formula is valid only when the mean photon number is large and the photon-number variance is much smaller than the square of the mean photon number. Near threshold, the laser linewidth can be twice as large as that given by the phase-diffusion coefficient at the mean photon number (i.e., twice as large as that given by the Schawlow-Townes formula).
We present the quantum theory of a two-photon nonlinear laser when the lasing medium consists of long-lived atoms. There is no population inversion in this laser, but the system exhibits gain arising from the four-wave-mixing process in an active nonlinear medium. The strong phase correlation between the photons generated in four-wave mixing leads to a narrower than usual linewidth of the two-photon laser far above threshold. The laser output is also squeezed. Systems with a higher lifetime have the advantage of requiring a lower pump to reach the threshold of laser oscillation. We give explicit solutions for the noise spectrum of the intensity difference of the two output modes in the steady state and show that it is highly squeezed even for non-Markov systems.
We develop a nonlinear theory of a two-photon correlated-spontaneous-emission laser (CEL) by using an effective interaction Hamiltonian for a two-level system coupled by a two-photon transition. Assuming that the active atoms are prepared initially in a coherent superposition of two atomic levels involved in the two-photon transition, we derive a master equation for the field-density operator by using our quantum theory for coherently pumped lasers. The steady-state properties of the two-photon CEL are studied by converting the field master equation into a Fokker-Planck equation for the antinormal-ordering Q representation of the field-density operator. Because of the injected atomic coherence, the drift and diffusion coefficients become phase sensitive. This leads to laser phase locking and an extra two-photon CEL gain. The laser field can build up from a vacuum in the no-population-inversion region, in contrast to an ordinary two-photon laser for which triggering is needed. We find an approximate steady-state solution of the Q representation for the laser field, which consists of two identical peaks of elliptical type. We calculate the phase variance and, for any given mean photon number, obtain the minimum variance in the phase quadrature as a function of the initial atomic variables. Squeezing of the quantum noise in the phase quadrature is found and it exhibits the following features: (1) it is possible only when the laser intensity is smaller than a certain value; (2) it becomes most significant for small mean photon number, which is achievable in the no-population-inversion region; and (3) a maximum of 50% squeezing can be asymptotically approached in the small laser intensity limit. As a by-product we also study the ordinary two-photon laser and find, e.g., photon-number variance and laser linewidth.
We investigate the response of a polariton laser driven slightly off-resonantly using light fields differing from the routinely studied coherent pump sources. The response to driving light fields with thermal and displaced thermal statistics with varying correlation times shows significant differences in the transmitted intensity, its noise, and the position of the nonlinear threshold. We predict that adding more photons on average may actually reduce the transmission through the polariton system.
We propose a new kind of correlated-spontaneous-emission laser in which the electromagnetic field is driven by coherently prepared atoms. Such a system constitutes a very simple correlated-emission scheme in that it involves only single-photon transitions, whereas all previous studies were based on correlated photon pairs. We find that for low intensities the fluctuations in the photon number can be reduced below the standard limit while the phase noise is unaffected by the atomic coherence. However, the amount of noise reduction crucially depends on the fluctuations of the pump mechanism. In the high-intensity limit the photon-number fluctuations can be reduced even further. It is possible to achieve a complete quenching of the spontaneous-emission noise and even squeezing, depending on the atomic coherence and the statistical properties of the pump mechanism. Additionally we find a large reduction in the phase fluctuations. In contrast to the amplitude noise, this reduction is independent of the pump noise.