The development of masers in the 1950's made possible amplifiers that were much quieter than other contemporary amplifiers. An analysis of narrow-band yields a fundamental theorem (Caves theorem) for phase-insensitive linear amplifiers; it requires that such an amplifier, will add noise as large as half-quantum of zero-point fluctuations. For phase-sensitive linear amplifiers the theorem establish a lower limit on the product of the noises added to the two phases. In the last decade it was shown theoretically that solid-state masers without inversion may be obtained in multilevel spin systems in dilute paramagnetic solids at high temperature subjected to several strong fields. In the present paper the author applies the Caves theorem to the maser without inversion in order to find out the best ways in which the proposed device can work.
The development of masers in the 1950s made possible amplifiers that were much quieter than other contemporary amplifiers. An analysis of narrow-band yields a fundamental theorem (Caves theorem) for phase-insensitive linear amplifiers; it requires that such an amplifier, will add noise as large as half-quantum of zero-point fluctuations. For phase-sensitive linear amplifiers the theorem establish a lower limit on the product of the noises added to the two phases. In the last decade it was shown theoretically that solid-state masers without inversion may be obtained in multilevel spin systems in dilute paramagnetic solids at high temperature subjected to several strong microwave fields. In the present paper the authors apply the Caves theorem to the maser without inversion in order to find out the best ways in which the proposed device can work.