We treat quantum fluctuations and squeezing of the field generated by a degenerate optical parametric oscillator operating below threshold. The analysis reported here extends our previous calculations for single-sided cavities to double-sided cavities with arbitrary transmission coefficients for the two bounding mirrors.
Quantum noise and squeezing of the field produced by a degenerate optical parametric oscillator operating below threshold are considered. This analysis extends previously reported calculations for single cavities to double cavities whose mirror transmission coefficients are arbitrary. The double-cavity configuration improves the overall squeezing of the system for both the intracavity field as well as the output field. The double-cavity configuration may be conducive to experimental verification of this and previous work.
In a recent work,1 the influence of arbitrary values of output-mirror transmission on the quantum noise and squeezing in a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (DOPO) with a single output mirror was studied. The work being presented here is a theoretical extension of that research to the case of a DOPO in a double-sided cavity with arbitrary transmission coefficients for the two output mirrors. Additionally, the pump field will be allowed to have amplitude and phase noise. Both intracavity and extracavity fields will be treated for a variety of squeezing characteristics of the input fields entering the DOPO cavity. The dependence of squeezing of the output and intracavity fields on the spatial phase, which determines the locations of the nodes and antinodes, of the average pump field will also be analyzed. As in Ref. 1, the generalization of the good-cavity results to arbitrary quality cavities is highly nontrivial.
We consider here the problem of quantum noise in light produced by an optical parametric oscillator operating below threshold inside a single-sided cavity. By employing the correct boundary conditions on quantum fields at the output mirror, a procedure that is valid for arbitrary mirror transmission, we derive exact expressions for quantum-noise reduction for arbitrary pump phase and output-mirror coupling. We find that for a given output-mirror power reflectance R, squeezing of quantum noise in the intracavity field increases to a final fractional value equal to R/(1+R) as the pump intensity is increased and the oscillation threshold is approached. The output field, on the other hand, exhibits perfect squeezing of noise in one quadrature of its central Fourier component at threshold regardless of the output-mirror coupling. The present approach, which is based on boundary conditions, is quite general and applicable to any matter-field interaction problem inside a cavity.
Quantum fluctuations and squeezing of the signal field generated by a degenerate optical parametric oscillator are sensitive to the phase and amplitude fluctuations of the second-harmonic pump. The analysis reported here extends our previous calculations for a perfectly monochromatic noise-free pump to allow for finite pump amplitude and phase fluctuations. We treat the typically intense pump field with its fluctuations as a classical Gaussian stochastic process in two limits: first, when the pump has amplitude fluctuations but its phase is fixed and second, when its phase diffuses but its amplitude is fixed. Since pump amplitude noise affects the evolution of the signal field multiplicatively, it has a lesser impact on the quantum fluctuations of the signal than pump phase diffusion which compromises such fluctuations via the extreme phase sensitivity of the parametric amplification process. For the latter limit, our calculations extend the work of Gea-Banacloche and Zubairy [Phys. Rev. A 42, 1742 (1990)] to cavities with arbitrary transmission coefficients for the bounding mirrors.
The redistribution of intrinsic quantum noise in the quadratures of the field generated in a sub-threshold degenerate optical parametric oscillator exhibits interesting dependences on the individual output mirror transmittances, when they are included exactly. We present a physical picture of this problem, based on mirror boundary conditions, which is valid for arbitrary transmittances. Hence, our picture applies uniformly to all values of the cavity Q factor representing, in the opposite extremes, both perfect oscillator and amplifier configurations. Beginning with a classical second-harmonic pump, we shall generalize our analysis to the finite amplitude and phase fluctuations of the pump.
We consider here the problem of quantum noise in light produced by an optical parametric oscillator operating below threshold inside a singlesided cavity. By employing the correct boundary conditions on quantum fields at the output mirror, a procedure that is valid for arbitrary mirror transmission, we derive exact expressions for quantum noise reduction for arbitrary pump phase and mirror out-coupling. We find that for a given out-coupling, squeezing of quantum noise in the intracavity field increases to a final value of 50%, as the pump intensity is increased and the oscillation threshold is approached. The output field on the other hand exhibits perfect squeezing of noise in one quadrature of its central Fourier component at threshold regardless of the mirror out-coupling. The present approach, which is based on boundary conditions, is quite general and applicable to any matter-field interaction problem inside a cavity. In fact, we have previously employed this approach in the calculation of the intrinsic linewidth of a laser with arbitrary out-coupling.1