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European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)

Non-Local Behaviour in the Far-Field of the Optical Parametrical Oscillator Adove Threshold

Luigi A. Lugiato, F. Castelli

Published Jan 1, 1996• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

SUMMARY Parametric processes in the interaction of electromagnetic field with a medium in an optical cavity are well known to produce states of light with nonclassical properties. The quantum correlations between these states can be employed for a realization of an EinsteinPodolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox [l], in the original formulation using continuous variables, as proposed [2] and experimentally demonstrated [3] in the case of Nondegenerate Parametric Amplification below threshold. In this paper we study EPR-like behaviour between the signal and idler fields emitted by a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (OPO) above threshold; these fields, generated by conversion of a pump photon of frequency 2w0 in two photons of frequency w. , are spatially separated in the far field, showing non-local quantum correlations. The system is described by the full Hamiltonian for the operators associated with the pump and signal fields; the optical cavity introduces proper damping constants and corresponding vacuum field operators [4,5]. Above the threshold for the generation of the signal field, we consider the fluctuations in the intensity difference and in the phase sum of the signal beams, which are related to their degree of mutual correlation. By linearizing around the stationary state, we calculate the spectral variances of these quantities (i.e. the Fourier transform of the two time correlation functions). The Heisenberg uncertainty principle sets a lower limit to the product of the spectral variances for the fluctuations in the intensity and in the phase of each individual signal field; by using the idler beam to infer results of measurements on the correlated signal beam, we have an EPR paradox if the product of the spectral variances for the fluctuations in the intensity difference and phase sum of the fields, is below the uncertainty limit. This feature is apparent for a wide interval around zero frequency in the far field of the active OPO system, depending on the parameter space; in particular there is maximum correlation between signal beams, and therefore maximum breaking of the uncertainty limit, if the damping constant of the signal field is larger than that of the pump field.

DOI
10.1109/eqec.1996.561526

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SUMMARY Parametric processes in the interaction of electromagnetic field with a medium in an optical cavity are well known to produce states of light with nonclassical properties. The quantum correlations between these states can be employed for a realization of an EinsteinPodolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox [l], in the original formulation using continuous variables, as proposed [2] and experimentally demonstrated [3] in the case of Nondegenerate Parametric Amplification below threshold. In this paper we study EPR-like behaviour between the signal and idler fields emitted by a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (OPO) above threshold; these fields, generated by conversion of a pump photon of frequency 2w0 in two photons of frequency w. , are spatially separated in the far field, showing non-local quantum correlations. The system is described by the full Hamiltonian for the operators associated with the pump and signal fields; the optical cavity introduces proper damping constants and corresponding vacuum field operators [4,5]. Above the threshold for the generation of the signal field, we consider the fluctuations in the intensity difference and in the phase sum of the signal beams, which are related to their degree of mutual correlation. By linearizing around the stationary state, we calculate the spectral variances of these quantities (i.e. the Fourier transform of the two time correlation functions). The Heisenberg uncertainty principle sets a lower limit to the product of the spectral variances for the fluctuations in the intensity and in the phase of each individual signal field; by using the idler beam to infer results of measurements on the correlated signal beam, we have an EPR paradox if the product of the spectral variances for the fluctuations in the intensity difference and phase sum of the fields, is below the uncertainty limit. This feature is apparent for a wide interval around zero frequency in the far field of the active OPO system, depending on the parameter space; in particular there is maximum correlation between signal beams, and therefore maximum breaking of the uncertainty limit, if the damping constant of the signal field is larger than that of the pump field.
We consider an optical parametric oscillator above threshold; under appropriate conditions and in the far-field, the emitted signal is composed by two spatially separate beams, highly correlated on the quantum level. We show that this system can realize the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox for continuous and macroscopic observables. The pair of non-commuting obserables considered are the intensity and the phase of the two separate beams; the spectral variances of the fluctuation in the intensity difference and in the phase sum of the two beams are calculated. The conditions for which the product of the spectral variances is below the limit settled by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle are studied.
For measurements describable by a discrete set of possibilities, numerous demonstrations of the violation of Bell's inequalities have been reported in optical physics based on observations of polarization correlations for photon pairs. By contrast for observables with a continuous spectrum, there appears to be no general inequalities corresponding to those of Bell and no experimental realization of the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. Following Reid and Drummond,1 we are attempting to demonstrate the EPR paradox in the context of the measurement of continuous quantum variables with a subthreshold optical parametric oscillator operated in a frequency degenerate but polarization nondegenerate mode. In this case, the EPR paradox is formulated in terms of two sets of quadrature phase amplitudes for the spatially separated signal and idler fields. As the parametric gain is increased toward threshold, the quadrature amplitudes of the signal and idler beams become increasingly faithful quantum copies of one another. Our measurements of quadrature amplitudes are carried out using independent balanced homodyne detectors at two sites. When operated for the detection of squeezing at one site, noise reductions of 4 dB relative to the vacuum state limit are observed, which is most encouraging since noise reductions >3 dB in the difference photocurrent from the two sites are sufficient for inference at a distance of a signal observable from a measurement of the corresponding idler variable.
We develop the quantum theory of a driven, damped intracavity parametric oscillator in the case of nondegenerate signal and idler modes. An analysis of the results of different types of local-oscillator measurements on the outgoing modes is presented. The frequency-domain squeezing is calculated below threshold including the effect of detunings and nonequal decay rates. We also calculate a nonclassical correlation in the quadrature amplitudes of the output beams. The existence of an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox is demonstrated through violations of the inferred Heisenberg uncertainty principle at causally unrelated locations in the output field. This provides a way of maintaining the commutation relations of the measured operators in the exact form envisaged originally by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen.
Quantum images, that is inhomogeneous field distributions purely generated by quantum fluctuations, persist when passing from the degenerate to the non-degenerate case of optical parametric oscillators (OPO). Below the threshold for parametric oscillation where the near-field distributions are homogeneous both in intensity and phase, appropriate spatial correlation functions anticipate the transverse spatial pattern that appears above threshold. In particular, the angular dependence of the far field spatial correlation function is able to reveal the travelling-wave nature of the phase pattern above threshold typical of nondegenerate OPOs. Cross-correlation functions between signal and idler intensities show clear evidence of the non-classical nature of the output light.
Noise spectra of the in-phase and quadrature-phase components of the signal and idler fields of a nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier are calculated. It is shown that, as is suggested by the operator Manley-Rowe relations, the external in-phase (amplitude) fluctuations of the signal and idler fields are correlated in the frequency region lower than the signal and idler cavity bandwidths. If the idler photon flux is continuously measured and the photocurrent fluctuations are fed back to control the pump intensity, the signal output will feature an amplitude noise spectral density reduced to below the standard quantum limit (amplitude squeezing) in the frequency region below the feedback loop and signal and idler cavity bandwidths. An all-optical realization of such a negative-feedback parametric oscillator is presented. It is also shown that a nondegenerate parametric amplifier with idler measurement feedback can add a fixed number of photons to a photon-number state.
The optical parametric oscillator is one of the most well-characterized devices in nonlinear optics, with many useful applications, especially as a frequency converter and as a wide-band amplifier. Novel discoveries made with these devices in the quantum domain include demonstrations of large amounts of both single-mode and two-mode squeezing, and, in the two-mode case, significant quantum intensity correlations between the two modes and quadrature correlations, which provided the first experimental demonstration of the original Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) paradox. In this chapter, a systematic theory is developed of quantum fluctuations in the degenerate parametric oscillator. The quantum statistical effects produced by the degenerate parametric amplifier and oscillator have been intensely studied. As we have seen, the amount of transient squeezing produced in an ideal lossless parametric amplifier was calculated using asymptotic methods by Crouch and Braunstein. It was found to scale inversely with the square root of the initial pump photon number. When the system is put into a cavity, and driving and dissipation are introduced, we find that the steady state of a driven degenerate parametric oscillator bifurcates. There is a single steady state at low driving strengths, but, as the driving field increases, a threshold value is reached and the single state splits and forms two stable states. Below the threshold, a linearized analysis of squeezing in the quantum quadratures is possible; while above this threshold, or critical point, the tunneling time between the two states due to quantum fluctuations can be calculated.