In applications of pulsed squeezed light in sensors, the high peak intensity of the light used in the squeezer will also cause nonlinearity in the sensor, destroying some of the quantum noise reduction. A dispersive element inserted between the squeezer and the sensor reduces the sensor nonlinearity, leaving the squeezing unaffected.
Optical fibers offer considerable advantages over bulk nonlinear media for the generation of squeezed states. This thesis reports on experimental investigations of reducing quantum noise by means of squeezing in nonlinear fiber optic interferometers. Fibers have low insertion loss which allows for long interaction lengths. High field intensities are easily achieved in the small cores of single mode fibers. Additionally, the nonlinear process employed is self phase modulation or the Kerr effect, whose broad band nature requires no phase matching and can be exploited with ultra-short pulses of high peak intensity. All these advantageous features of fibers result in easily obtained large nonlinear phase shifts and subsequently large squeezing parameters. By the self phase modulation process a correlation is produced between the phase and amplitude fluctuations of the optical field. The attenuated or squeezed quadrature has a lower noise level than the initial level associated with the coherent state field before propagation. The resulting reduced quantum noise quadrature can be utilized to improve the sensitivity of a phase measuring instrument such as an interferometer.
The deleterious effects of nonlinear dispersion on squeezed light in two-photon devices when absorption losses are included have been analyzed making use of the variables called two-mode quadrature-phase amplitudes. The uncertainties in the quadrature amplitudes have been computed from a generalized Fokker-Planck equation. The dependence of squeezing on the nonlinear coupling, the modulation (including the case of high modulations), the pumping phase (where nonlinear dispersion causes an intensity-dependent shift in the minimum squeezing), and the absorption losses have been studied.
Squeezed states of light enable enhanced measurement precision by reducing noise below the standard quantum limit. A key application of squeezed light is nonlinear microscopy, where state-of-the-art performance is limited by photodamage and quantum-limited noise. Such microscopes require bright, pulsed light for optimal operation, yet generating and detecting bright pulsed squeezing at high levels remains challenging. In this work, we present an efficient technique to generate high levels of bright picosecond pulsed squeezed light using a χ2 optical parametric amplification process in a waveguide. We measure −3.2dB of bright squeezing with optical power compatible with nonlinear microscopy, as well as −3.6dB of vacuum squeezing. Corrected for losses, these squeezing levels correspond to −15.4−8.7+2.7dB of squeezing generated in the waveguide. The measured level of bright amplitude pulsed squeezing is to our knowledge the highest reported to date, and will contribute to the broader adoption of quantum-enhanced nonlinear microscopy in biological studies.
Squeezed states of light are used for precision metrology and quantum-enhanced measurements, with applications spanning communication and sensing. State-of-the-art squeezed-light sources typically rely on optical cavities to achieve high, usable levels of squeezing. Recently, waveguide-based squeezed-light sources have demonstrated significant improvements in achievable squeezing, with performance currently limited by fabrication-induced losses. In this work, we present a detailed analysis of waveguide-based squeezers, examining the effects of phase noise, multiple loss mechanisms, and fundamental light leakage seeding the squeezer. We further investigate a cascaded squeezer architecture, in which a second waveguide operates as a phase-sensitive amplifier to mitigate out-coupling and detection losses. Owing to their ease of integration, robustness to high pump powers, and low intrinsic phase noise, we propose waveguide-based squeezed-light sources as a promising alternative for quantum noise reduction in future gravitational wave detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope.
Noise suppression in an interferometer, employing a nonlinear Mach-Zehnder squeezer, was proposed[1] and experimentally confirmed[2,3]. The noise characteristics of this squeezer were derived for a coherent state input[4]. It may be advantageous to put the squeezer directly into a modelocked laser resonator where higher power pulses may be utilized. In this case the light acquires a large phase uncertainty. Thus, it is of interest to analyze squeezing with an input state of large phase uncertainty. One approach is to expand the input state in terms of coherent states[5]. Another approach is to use number states, which have total phase uncertainty and also present some interesting quantum features.