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Optica Acta International Journal of Optics

Non-equilibrium Transitions in Sub/second Harmonic Generation

P. D. Drummond, K. J. McNeil, Daniel F. Walls

Published Feb 1, 1981• 281 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper we present a quantum statistical analysis of a non-linear optical system with a mode coupled to its second harmonic, studied semiclassically in a previous paper. Quantum fluctuations are included via a Fokker-Planck equation for a generalized P representation. The spectrum of the light is shown to split into two peaks for critical values of the input fields. It is found that under certain conditions the non-classical effect of photon antibunching is possible in the steady state. In certain limits exact solutions for the generalized P representation are possible which allows an estimate of lifetimes in the metastable region to be calculated.

DOI
10.1080/713820531

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Physical Review A•Jan 1, 1980•38 citations
In this paper we present a quantum statistical analysis of a non-linear optical system with a mode coupled to its second harmonic, studied semiclassically in a previous paper. Quantum fluctuations are included via a Fokker-Planck equation for a generalized P representation. The spectrum of the light is shown to split into two peaks for critical values of the input fields. It is found that under certain conditions the non-classical effect of photon antibunching is possible in the steady state. In certain limits exact solutions for the generalized P representation are possible which allows an estimate of lifetimes in the metastable region to be calculated.
The topic of this thesis is a theoretical study of nonequilibrium transitions and quantum statistical properties of nonlinear quantum optical systems driven by an external radiation source. In certain limiting cases, a comparison is made between these transitions and the phase transitions found in equilibrium physical systems. In chapters one and two, the mathematical tools are introduced. In operator terms, the time development is described by a Markovian master equation in the interaction picture. This is equivalent to a corresponding time development equation or Fokker-Planck equation in a vector space of c-numbers. In order to deal with the type of Fokker-Planck equation that results, we introduce a quantum classical correspondence resulting in a distribution function over a complex phase-space, which is a generalisation of the Glauber-Sudarshan P-function. In chapter three this is applied to a model of a coherently driven mode with nonlinear dispersion and absorption. We find in the limit of zero temperature, that the spectrum is symmetric relative to the input frequency, and an exact solution is obtained for the distribution function. For a detuned driving field and nonlinear dispersion, optical bistability can occur. In chapter four a model of sub/second harmonic generation is introduced. This has several non-equilibrium transitions, including dispersive optical bistability, and bistable behaviour with coherent phase-locked input to both modes. Exact solutions occur in the limit of zero temperature and adiabatic elimination of one mode. In both chapters three and four, steady-state photon anti-bunching occurs with an absorptive nonlinearity. In chapter five we include interactions between the radiation mode and a fluorescent atomic system. In this case different behaviour occurs depending on the relative decay rates of the individual atoms and of the radiation mode. In the case of a high-Q interferometer, the atomic variables can be adiabatically eliminated. Both dispersive and absorptive bistability can occur. We show by analytic and numerical calculations (in the case of inhomogeneous broadening) that dispersive operation has advantages in requiring a lower atomic density and input field to observe bistability. When the input field has Gaussian (rather than coherent) photon statistics, there is no bistability, but enhanced photon bunching occurs. Finally, there is a different type of behaviour when the field mode decays rapidly and can be adiabatically eliminated. Within the cooperation lifetime the system can be described by a J²-invariant Hamiltonian, giving the special case of only collective damping. The result is a new type of critical point transition in the thermodynamic limit, with the appearance of a family of solutions like Lotka-Volterra cycles for a coherent driving field above threshold.
In this, the first of two papers on the subject, we present an analysis of a non-linear optical system with a mode coupled to its second harmonic, exhibiting a rich variety of non-equilibrium steady-state transitions. Here we use a semiclassical analysis to examine the steady states and their stability, and thus predict the existence of various instabilities. We find that this system exhibits both first- and second-order phase transition-like behaviour, as well as having a hard mode transition. The application of this system as a switching device is also considered.
A quantum treatment of a coherently driven dispersive cavity is given based on a cubic nonlinearity in the polarisability of the internal medium. This system displays bistability and hysteresis in the semiclassical solutions. Quantum fluctuations are included via a Fokker-Planck equation in a generalised P representation. The transmitted light shows a transition from a single-peaked spectrum to a double-peaked spectrum above the threshold of the lower branch. Fluctuations in the field are reduced on the upper branch and both photon bunching and photon antibunching are predicted, for different operating points. An exact solution obtained for the steady-state generalised P function shows decidedly non-equilibrium behaviour, e.g. the lack of a Maxwell construction.
Equation of motion for the density operator of the field in the process of second harmonic generation is converted into a Fokker-Planck equation by using the positive P-representation of the density operator. This Fokker-Planck equation is replaced by a set of four coupled stochastic differential equations using the Ito interpretation. The statistics of the light field are studied by numerically solving these stochastic equations. For long interaction times substantial antibunching and squeezing are possible in principle.
Second harmonic generation and subharmonic generation in a cavity are described by the usual master equation (1) for the statistical operator of the system of two modes (fundamental and second harmonic). The master equation is equivalent to a partial differential equation for the Wigner function which is a generalized Fokker-Planck equation involving partial derivatives of the first, second and third order (2). In the semi-classical limit the third order derivatives are negligible and the Wigner distribution satisfies the Fokker-Planck equation equivalent to the Langevin equation with the formally classical Gaussian white noise ξ1, ξ2 with the only non-vanishing correlation coefficients β1, β2 are the mode amplitudes (normalized to photon numbers), g is the coupling constant, Δ1, 2 the frequency mismatch, x is the damping rate, Fp the amplitude of the pump field.
The quantum-statistical properties of the optical field of a two-mode laser with two coupled transitions have been studied by means of a generalization of the Scully and Lamb theory. The photon number distribution and the mode intensity distribution are obtained in the steady state for a system of homogeneously broadened atoms in resonance with the laser field. It is shown that the mode-coupling constant $\ensuremath{\xi}$ is unity and that near threshold the results of earlier treatments are recovered. Furthermore, it is shown that certain limit measures for the relative intensity fluctuations predicted by the semiclassical Fokker-Planck treatments based on the third-order theory are valid even in the limit of arbitrarily high gain levels.