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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Quantum theory of light generation by two-level atoms without inversion

В. Н. Горбачев, Andrew I. Trubilko

Published Jan 14, 2000• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

When pumping produces atomic coherence on working levels or atomic polarization two-level atom can generate the light without inversion. In such systems one- and two-photon generation of the light is considered for the laser and micromaser operation. Using Lamb-Scully model generalized for coherent pumping statistics of the light is considered. Two-photon laser operation is found to be phase squeezed and perfect noise reduction can be achieved. In maser a set of steady state of subpoissian photon statistics is found. For these states the noise reduction up to 60 percent can be obtained if inversion is zero. Phase squeezing in micromaser is found.

DOI
10.1117/12.375317

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When pumping produces atomic coherence on working levels or atomic polarization two-level atom can generate the light without inversion. In such systems one- and two-photon generation of the light is considered for the laser and micromaser operation. Using Lamb-Scully model generalized for coherent pumping statistics of the light is considered. Two-photon laser operation is found to be phase squeezed and perfect noise reduction can be achieved. In maser a set of steady state of subpoissian photon statistics is found. For these states the noise reduction up to 60 percent can be obtained if inversion is zero. Phase squeezing in micromaser is found.
We propose a theory that makes it possible to examine both laser and micromaser two-photon light generation. The theory is based on the Lamb-Scully model, in which two-level atoms have initial coherence. Such an initial state allows for light generation involving atoms without inversion or even atoms with negative population inversion in the transition. We analyze the conditions needed for the emergence of squeezed states of the light field. We also show that the photon statistics in lasing is always classical but that there appears a state of the field squeezed in the phase with maximum photodetection shot-noise suppression. For a micromaser we find a regime where sub-Poisson light with a shot-noise suppression level of 60% is realized in an inversionless transition. In another regime, a squeezed state that produces 75% suppression of noise can be generated.
Stimulated emission of two-level atoms in a high-Q cavity is considered under conditions when pumping produces correlated many-atomic states. Based on the many-body problem, a kinetic equation is obtained for the Glauber–Sudarshan probability, which describes the field in the Fokker–Planck approximation. The statistics of light in this approximation are determined by the atomic correlation functions of the order of no higher than the second. The noise of light is found in the regime of micromaser operation for two types of pumping producing the initial separable states with a classical correlation and entangled states. It is shown that the presence of the initial diatomic correlation enhances the intensity noise. The entangled state of atoms is found from which nonclassical light is generated with a steady-state phase and noise, which can be almost completely suppressed in the low-frequency spectral region.
We derive the master equations for the fields in the one-mode \ensuremath{\Lambda}-type micromaser and laser with injected atoms in a superposition of their states. In terms of effective parameters, these equations are equivalent to those for a two-level micromaser and laser. The interference terms in the master equations may cancel the absorption terms independent of statistical properties of the field. Due to the atomic coherence between the two degenerate lower levels, the generation of field states with sub-Poissonian photon statistics is possible in the micromaser without the need for a population inversion. If an equivalent level system is used in a laser operating without population inversion it can produce field states with Poisson distributions of the photon number.
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 quantum theory of two-level atom single-mode laser system of Sargent, Scully and Lamb is extended to two-mode laser in a three-level atomic system with common lower level, and master equation is obtained for the system with all the three levels being pumped. There appear four terms in the master equation that are absent in the single-mode case and those interpreted as 2-photon processes play an especial role in the present case. The master equation is represented by a probability flow diagram in two-dimensions with the photon numbers n1 and n2 of the two-mode as variables. The probability flow diagram can be extended to infinity, and each arrow of it represents a term of the right hand side of master equation. By taking sum over one of the variables n1 or n2, the master equation is reduced to two equations, each of them can be represented by an one-dimensional probability flow diagram. The equation of motion under steady state is obtained by considering the correspondence between the macroscopic balance and the microscopic balance.A parameter H is introduced to reduce the equation of motion and to facilitate the mathematical procedure and a formal solution is thus obtained. Using the equation of motion and its formal solution various operation characteristics are discussed. Among them are: the threshold condition for each mode; the condition of only one mode operation; the variation of photon statistics between single-mode operation and two-mode operation and the variation of photon statistics with lower level being pumped and not pumped.
A quantum theory of a two-level single-mode laser with injected atomic coherence is developed by generalizing the Scully-Lamb laser theory to a form appropriate for the analysis of a coherently pumped laser. We assume that the active atoms are prepared initially in a coherent superposition of the upper and lower levels, and we derive the master equation for the field density operator by treating the interaction of the laser field with many active atoms simultaneously. It is shown that the photon-number distribution can be exactly Poissonian. The laser operation is analyzed in terms of the Fokker-Planck equation for the laser field. Both the intensity and phase diffusion coefficients are phase sensitive and, for stable laser operation, become much smaller than those of an ordinary laser. Consequently, the injected atomic coherence reduces both the photon-number noise and phase noise simultaneously. The intensity diffusion coefficient can vanish exactly, and at the same time the phase diffusion coefficient can become very small. This leads to spontaneous-emission noise quenching in the photon-number distribution, and the laser field can become very close to a coherent state. A scheme to generate the proper form of the initial atomic coherence necessary for the quantum noise quenching is proposed and analyzed.