Archives of physics research

On the nature of vacuum fluctuation and squeezed state of light

H. Konwar, Jiban Saikia

Published Jan 1, 2012• 1 citation

Abstract

All quantum states of light exhibit field fluctuation even in the vacuum state. There are many physical phenomena which result from vacuum fluctuation. The most prominent example is the spontaneous radiation. In quantum optics and laser physics people have succeeded in producing theoretically even a squeezed state of light that fluctuates at a lower noise level than the vacuum fluctuation. The application of squeezed light will provide new opportunities for high precision measurements. In the present work we consider the quantum superposition of state 0 1 01 y =a + b and work out the variances of the quadrature operators 1 ˆX and 2 ˆX . We have shown that for some values of parameters α and β, the quadrature variances become less than the vacuum fluctuation. This indicates the principle of manipulating vacuum.

Related papers

Manipulating the vacuum: squeezed states of light

Stephen Mark Barnett, Claire R Gilson

All quantum states of light exhibit field fluctuations even the vacuum state. Quantum opticians have succeeded in manipulating the fields to produce squeezed light with a field that fluctuates at a lower noise level than the vacuum field. These states have electric or magnetic fields that are more accurately prescribed than in the vacuum state. The application of squeezed light will provide new opportunities in high-precision measurement. It will also allow one to modify fundamental vacuum field effects such as spontaneous emission and the Lamb shift.

European Journal of PhysicsOct 1, 19885 citations

Effects of a squeezed vacuum on a laser exhibiting phase locking: An application to a laser with injected atomic coherence

Ning Lü, János A. Bergou

We study the steady-state operation and noise properties of a laser (or maser) exhibiting phase locking when an ordinary vacuum is replaced by a squeezed vacuum. Such a phase-sensitive laser can be realized by preparing the active medium initially in a coherent superposition of levels involved in the laser transition. We develop a general formalism to treat number-phase fluctuations and quadrature fluctuations. When applied to a one-photon laser with injected atomic coherence, we find that not only is a complete quenching of the (spontaneous-emission) quantum noise possible, but the field can actually be in a squeezed state. The variance in either amplitude or phase quadrature can be below the vacuum noise level by a factor of 2 (50%) at the expense of enhanced fluctuations in the other quadrature.

Physical Review AJul 1, 19898 citations

Phase noise in quantum physics

Barry C. Sanders

The nature of phase noise in quantum optics is analyzed. In an experiment involving the measurement of the electromagnetic field the two quantities of interest are the energy and phase of the field. However, measurements of the quantities produce quantum fluctuations. The quantum fluctuations are regarded as noise in the treatment presented here. The quantum system is represented by a probability distribution, the Wigner function, and the quantum fluctuations are treated as stochastic noise associated with the quantity being measured. The difficulties of associating a quantum operator with the phase of the system are reviewed and the related energy-phase uncertainty relation is discussed. The alternate interpretation of the phase noise of a quantum system as being the classical phase noise of the Wigner function is presented. In particular the energy and phase noise of the vacuum state, the coherent state, the squeezed state and the squeezed vacuum are discussed in this way. The squeezed states of light are minimum uncertainty states with respect to the quadrature operators and exhibit noise of one quadrature below the noise level associated with the vacuum. The reduced noise level in one quadrature of the field underlies the importance of squeezed states in many practical applications where there is a need to reduce the quantum noise of one quadrature of coherent light. The periodic phase operator eliminates the difficulties associated with the multivalued nature of phase. The analysis of the vacuum and intense coherent state of Carruthers and Nieto by employing periodic phase operators is reviewed, particularly with respect to the energy-phase uncertainty relations and we generalize the approach to develop a phase operator analysis of the squeezed state in the intense field and vacuum limits. We demonstrate here for the first time that the phase operator is simply related to the phase of the squeezed state in the intense field limit and that the squeezed state is approximately an energy-phase minimum uncertainty state in the low-squeezing limit. Also we enlarge on previous work to demonstrate that the phase operator corresponds simply and unambiguously to the phase of the squeeze parameter for the strongly squeezed vacuum and the intensely squeezed vacuum is an energy-phase minimum uncertainty state for some values of phase. The occurrence of squeezing for the case of two coupled quantum oscillators is presented. The system consisting of one mode of the electromagnetic field coupled to a spinless nonrelativistic electron subjected to an harmonic potential is represented by two coupled harmonic oscillators. The dynamics are compared for the case that the rotating wave approximation is employed and for the case that the counter-rotating terms are included. These calculations have not been performed before. The parametric amplifier Hamiltonian with a nonresonant coupling is also studied in order to provide insight into the effects of the counter-rotating terms. Squeezing of the field produced by the electron is a consequence of the inclusion of the counter-rotating terms. The case of a spinless nonrelativistic electron subject to an harmonic potential and coupled to a continuum of electromagnetic field modes is also considered. The case of two coupled oscillators discussed above is generalized by replacing the oscillator which represents the single-mode field by a bath of oscillators. The effects of including counter-rotating terms and of ignoring the counter - rotating terms in the Hamiltonian are compared. The interaction is assumed to produce a frequency shift and an exponential damping term for the oscillating electron. The frequency shift is assumed to be small in either case and so the Wigner-Weisskopff approximation is employed to solve the equations of motion. We demonstrate the new results that dissipation-induced phase-dependent noise is a consequence of including the counter-rotating terms and that the noise is phase-independent for the case that the counterrotating terms are excluded. The relation between these results and recent work on quantum tunnelling in superconducting quantum interference devices is discussed. We conclude by suggesting further research related to the work in this thesis.

Nov 1, 19870 citations

Squeezed states of light

Harry J. Kimble

Squeezed states of the electromagnetic field are characterized by a reduction of fluctuations for one of two quadrature phase amplitudes below the level of fluctuations for the vacuum state. This reduction is a manifestly quantum or nonclassical feature which is of great interest in its own right but also potentially important for precision measurement with sensitivity beyond the shot-noise or vacuum-state limit. We describe three different experiments in which squeezed light has been generated in our laboratory involving parametric downconversion, intracavity frequency doubling, and optical bistability with two-state atoms. By employing the squeezed light produced by a subthreshold optical parametric oscillator, we have achieved improvements in sensitivity beyond the vacuum-state limit for the detection of both phase and amplitude changes of the electromagnetic field. An alternate route to sensitivity beyond the vacuum-state limit is through quantum nondemolition measurement, where we have suggested and are implementing a scheme involving parametric conversion and polarization mixing.

Annual Meeting Optical Society of AmericaJan 1, 19880 citations

Complement 5A: Squeezed states of light: the reduction of quantum fluctuations

G. Grynberg, Alain Aspect, Claude Fabre +1 more

We showed in Section 5.2 of the present chapter that according to quantum theory the value of the electric field of an electromagnetic wave could not be predicted to arbitrarily high precision, this being a consequence of the uncertainty relation satisfied by the two quadrature components of the field (Equation 5.32), which imposed a finite limit on the product of their variances. This limit is more than an abstract theoretical limit; it is often the overriding factor determining the resolution of high-precision optical measurements. In such situations measurements by photodetectors on the field exhibit uncontrollable fluctuations of quantum origin known as quantum noise . Fortunately, as we shall show in this complement, it is possible to overcome this by using non-classical states of the radiation field, namely the squeezed states , provided measurements are made of a single one of a pair of conjugate field variables. A field mode prepared in such a state exhibits reduced quantum noise in one of the variables at the expense of increased noise in the other, so that the uncertainty relation involving their variances is still satisfied. The potential of such states for increasing the obtainable precision of optical measurements is self-evident. However, the practical realization of the potential benefits requires delicate experimental techniques that we describe only briefly here.

Cambridge University Press eBooksSep 2, 20100 citations

Squeezed states of light

L. Mandeļ, E. Wolf

In Section 11.5 we showed that, although the complex amplitude of the electromagnetic field has a well-defined value in any coherent state, yet the real and imaginary (Hermitian and anti-Hermitian) parts of the field fluctuate with equal dispersions. The phenomenon of vacuum fluctuations is a manifestation of this effect, because the vacuum state is an example of a particular coherent state. This behavior is quite different from that of an ordinary, classical field. In a squeezed state, which is even more non-classical, as we shall see, one part of the field fluctuates less and another part fluctuates more than in the vacuum state. In general, a squeezed state is one in which the distribution of canonical variables over the phase space has been distorted or ‘squeezed’ in such a way that the dispersion of one variable is reduced at the cost of an increase in the dispersion of the other variable. In the following we shall examine the properties of squeezed states when the two canonical variables are two quadratures of the electromagnetic field. Although the squeezing terminology is sometimes applied to variables other than the two field quadratures, it is less meaningful in those cases. A number of review articles on squeezing have been published and can be consulted for more details (Walls, 1983; Schumaker, 1986; Loudon and Knight, 1987; Teich and Saleh, 1989, 1990; Kimble, 1992).

Cambridge University Press eBooksSep 29, 19950 citations