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Optics Express

Generation and applications of amplitude-squeezed states of light from semiconductor diode lasers

Yongqing Li, Min Xiao

Published Feb 2, 1998• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe recent experiments on generation and applications of amplitude-squeezed states of light from a semiconductor diode laser. Amplitude-squeezed light with intensity noise 2 dB below the standard shot- noise limit was observed from a diode laser with a weak optical feedback from an external grating. Applications of this amplitude-squeezed light as a local oscillator in heterodyne detection in Doppler velocity measurement and weak light-scattering measurement are discussed.

DOI
10.1364/oe.2.000110

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Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Mar 1, 1999•11 citations
We describe recent experiments on generation and applications of amplitude-squeezed states of light from a semiconductor diode laser. Amplitude-squeezed light with intensity noise 2 dB below the standard shot- noise limit was observed from a diode laser with a weak optical feedback from an external grating. Applications of this amplitude-squeezed light as a local oscillator in heterodyne detection in Doppler velocity measurement and weak light-scattering measurement are discussed.
Amplitude-squeezed light from a quantum-well semiconductor laser with weak optical feedback from a highly dispersive grating is employed for laser Doppler anemometry. Up to 2 dB noise reduction below the shot-noise level is observed with a feedback factor of $1.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$. Enhanced sensitivity is demonstrated in the Doppler measurement of a gas flow velocity with an improvement in the signal to noise ratio of 1.0 dB above the shot-noise limit.
The control of the quantum state of light has recently been studied extensively, aiming at the achievement of ultra-low noise below the shot noise limit. Several experiments showed that amplitude squeezing could be achieved in constant-current-driven semiconductor lasers. However, the generation of amplitude-squeezed light from distributed feedback semiconductor lasers (DFB) has been up to now considerably less successful than that from Fabry-Perot devices. Simulations indicate that DFB structures with high coupling coefficient length product kL are unlikely to be good sources of squeezed light, because of the evanescence of the optical fields along the grating [1]. They also show, that for low kL values the lowest achievable intensity noise depends on the structure of the laser diode and can be higher than expected from the laser quantum efficiency alone.
This dissertation describes a series of measurements that confirmed the existence of amplitude squeezing in a commercially available type of laser diode and makes the critical observation that the primary requirement to obtain squeezing, in addition to sub-Poissonian pumping, is the suppression of longitudinal side modes. Side-mode suppression was achieved using optical feedback from a grating in an external cavity configuration or by injection locking to a single-wavelength master laser. The external cavity setup allowed as much as 1.8 dB of amplitude squeezing to be generated with the laser diode operating at room temperature, and provided a means for tuning the output wavelength over a range in excess of 20 nm. The injection locking approach achieved more than 3.0 dB of squeezing at cryogenic temperatures and made it possible to maintain squeezing in the presence of drive-current modulation signals, facilitating potential applications in precision measurement systems and communications. By identifying some of the noise mechanisms which prevent the observation of amplitude squeezing and establishing that squeezing is a much more robust phenomenon than previous work had indicated, this research has shown that there may be important practical uses for these sources as diode laser technology evolves.
Amplitude-squeezed states are produced from a room-temperature Fabry-P\'erot quantum-well semiconductor laser using a combination of pump suppression and weak, dispersive optical feedback. Up to 0.9 dB of squeezing is measured using a balanced homodyne detector corresponding to 1.5 dB of squeezing at the output facet of the laser. A comparison of the data to theoretical predictions suggests that the excess noise measured under free-running conditions could be a result of incomplete side-mode suppression in combination with asymmetrical cross-mode nonlinear gain saturation.
We present the theory and measurements of the amplitude noise spectrum from a semiconductor laser with weak optical feedback (P(fb)/P(out) approximately 10(-6)) from an external cavity containing an element of dispersive loss. The laser noise is found to be reduced over most of the low-frequency spectrum, although an increase in the noise is observed at frequencies corresponding to multiples of the external-cavity free spectral range. The low-frequency noise reduction closely follows theoretical predictions, and a reduction of as much as 7 dB is measured at an injection current of 1.5 times the threshold current. The potential of this method for contributing to the production of amplitude-squeezed light is discussed.
Experimental results are reported for amplitude-squeezed states generated from two kinds of 1550-nm distributed-feedback semiconductor laser at room temperature. Both lasers exhibit excess noise under free-running conditions, but the origin of this noise is different for the two lasers. For one of the lasers the excess noise is reduced by enhancement of the side-mode–suppression ratio. For the other the excess noise that degrades the squeezing is reduced by weak dispersive optical feedback produced by a grating detuned from the maximum of its first-order reflection. Thus the grating is used to convert phase noise into intensity noise.