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Optics Letters

Amplitude squeezing by means of quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation in a lithium niobate waveguide

Darwin K. Serkland, Prem Kumar, Mark A. Arbore, M. M. Fejer

Published Oct 1, 1997• 48 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate that traveling-wave second-harmonic generation produces amplitude-squeezed light at both the fundamental and the harmonic frequencies. Quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic conversion efficiencies approaching 60% were obtained in a 26-mm-long single-mode LiNbO(3) waveguide with pulses from a mode-locked laser at 1.53 microm. The amplitude noise of the transmitted fundamental field was measured to be 0.8 dB below the shot-noise level, and the generated 0.765-microm harmonic light was measured to be amplitude squeezed by 0.35 dB. The conversion-efficiency dependence of the observed squeezing at both wavelengths agrees with theoretical predictions. Waveguide losses appear to degrade the squeezing, but the maximum observed squeezing is currently limited only by the available input power.

DOI
10.1364/ol.22.001497

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We demonstrate that traveling-wave second-harmonic generation produces amplitude-squeezed light at both the fundamental and the harmonic frequencies. Quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic conversion efficiencies approaching 60% were obtained in a 26-mm-long single-mode LiNbO(3) waveguide with pulses from a mode-locked laser at 1.53 microm. The amplitude noise of the transmitted fundamental field was measured to be 0.8 dB below the shot-noise level, and the generated 0.765-microm harmonic light was measured to be amplitude squeezed by 0.35 dB. The conversion-efficiency dependence of the observed squeezing at both wavelengths agrees with theoretical predictions. Waveguide losses appear to degrade the squeezing, but the maximum observed squeezing is currently limited only by the available input power.
We report traveling-wave quadrature squeezing at 1064 nm in a quasi-phase-matched LiNbO(3) waveguide, avoiding the gain-induced diffraction encountered in bulk squeezing experiments. The 10-mm-long singlemode waveguide parametric amplifier exhibited a gain of 1.9, averaged over the 20-ps mode-locked pulses, with only 0.5 W of peak pump power at 532 nm. Independent waveguides were employed for the degenerate parametric amplifier squeezer and for the second-harmonic generator that produced the pump for the parametric amplifier. We measured phase-sensitive amplification versus pump power and found close agreement with theory. The observed 14% squeezing correlates closely with the predicted value, based on the measured phase-sensitive amplification and 40% overall detection efficiency. Impedance-matched electrically resonant detection was used to boost our squeezing measurement signals substantially above the background level.
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We have generated squeezed states of light by the process of second harmonic conversion within an optical cavity resonant at both fundamental and harmonic frequencies. The experiment consists of a standing-wave cavity containing a crystal of lithium niobate doped with magnesium oxide and driven by the field from a frequency-stabilized Nd:YAG laser (incident power, ~10 mW). The total field reflected from the cavity illuminates a pair of high quantum efficiency photodiodes, whose individual photocurrents are summed. Observations of squeezing are made by analyzing the spectral density of fluctuations for this sum photo-current while the cavity detuning is scanned through resonance. An intensity regulator holds the reflected light intensity constant during the scan by control of the incident light level. Reductions in photocurrent fluctuations of 12% relative to the vacuum-state or shot-noise level are achieved for frequency offsets near 4 MHz. Since significantly higher degrees of squeezing are predicted by our theoretical analysis, we discuss those processes that currently limit the observed noise reduction, including phase noise produced by the intracavity crystal in the absence of nonlinear conversion.
We demonstrate a high-efficiency green light conversion from an external cavity second harmonic generation with a MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO 3 crystal. The frequency doubler can reach a conversion efficiency of 64% with a fundamental power of 26 mW. Meanwhile, the generated green light is quadrature-amplitude squeezed and 1.2 dB green light squeezing is experimentally measured. The squeezing at different pump levels is also investigated and is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction.
We report the generation of sub-Poissonian pulses of light by means of traveling-wave second-harmonic generation (SHG) in a type II phase-matched nonlinear crystal. On direct detection, the quantum noise on the output light, which is polarized orthogonally to the input fundamental field, is measured to be below the shotnoise limit by as much as 0.3 +/- 0.2 dB (6 +/- 4%). We show that the input fundamental-power dependence of the measured Fano factor, direct-detection noise as a fraction of the shot-noise limit, is in qualitative agreement with the quantum theory of SHG.
We analyze squeezing of both the fundamental and harmonic fields undergoing traveling-wave, second-harmonic generation (SHG) in second-order (${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\chi}}}^{(2)}$) nonlinear media. We take into account depletion of the fundamental field as well as the phase mismatch between the fundamental and harmonic fields. The behavior of the quantum noises on the propagating fields is studied by linearizing the nonlinear operator equations around the mean-field values. We first consider the degenerate case that is applicable to type-I phase-matching geometries, obtaining expressions for squeezing in both the fundamental and harmonic fields under the conditions of perfect phase matching and large phase mismatch. We show that in the case of a large phase mismatch, the intensity-dependent self-phase shift of the fundamental field, arising due to cascading of the ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\chi}}}^{(2)}$ nonlinearity, is responsible for the squeezing generation. We also numerically solve the linearized quadrature-operator equations together with the nonlinear mean-field equations. We find that in the case of a finite phase mismatch the harmonic field can be highly squeezed. This is in contrast to the perfectly phase-matched case where the maximum squeezing is limited to 50%. Finally, we analyze the nondegenerate case that applies to type-II phase-matching geometries. Here we show that the commonly used type-II phase-matched SHG process with the input harmonic field in the vacuum state is equivalent to a type-I SHG process in parallel with a degenerate optical-parametric process. The latter causes squeezing in the mode that is polarized orthogonal to the fundamental beam. In the perfect phase-matching case, the squeezing in the orthogonally polarized mode follows the simple expression S=1-\ensuremath{\gamma}, where \ensuremath{\gamma} is the harmonic conversion frequency.