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International Meeting on Instabilities and Dynamics of Lasers and Nonlinear Optical Systems

Observation of Squeezed Light in an Optical Cavity

R. E. Slusher, Leo W. Hollberg, Bernard Yurke, Jerome C. Mertz

Published Jan 1, 1985• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the observation of squeezed light noise at power levels near the vacuum fluctuation level using nondegenerate four-wave-mixinq in an optical cavity.(1-4) The light at cavity resonances is observed using a balanced homodyne detector with a portion of the pump beam serving as a local oscillator.(5) The noise power is amplified by a factor A at a particular phase and attenuated by 1/A at a phase shift of 90°. This is a basic identifying characteristic of squeezed 1ight.

DOI
10.1364/idlnos.1985.wd37

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Annual Meeting Optical Society of America•Jan 1, 1985•0 citations
We report the observation of squeezed light noise at power levels near the vacuum fluctuation level using nondegenerate four-wave-mixinq in an optical cavity.(1-4) The light at cavity resonances is observed using a balanced homodyne detector with a portion of the pump beam serving as a local oscillator.(5) The noise power is amplified by a factor A at a particular phase and attenuated by 1/A at a phase shift of 90°. This is a basic identifying characteristic of squeezed 1ight.
Squeezed states of the electromagnetic field have been generated by nondegenerate four-wave mixing due to Na atoms in an optical cavity. The optical noise in the cavity, comprised of primarily vacuum fluctuations and a small component of spontaneous emission from the pumped Na atoms, is amplified in one quadrature of the optical field and deamplified in the other quadrature. These quadrature components are measured with a balanced homodyne detector. The total noise level in the deamplified quadrature drops below the vacuum noise level.
Squeezed states of the electromagnetic field have been generated by nondegenerate four-wave mixing due to Na atoms in an optical cavity. The optical noise in the cavity, comprised of primarily vacuum fluctuations and a small component of spontaneous emission from the pumped Na atoms, is amplified in one quadrature of the optical field and deamplified in the other quadrature. These quadrature components are measured with a balanced homodyne detector. The total noise level in the deamplified quadrature drops below the vacuum noise level.
A squeezed state of the electromagnetic field has less noise in one of its two amplitude components than that of a coherent state. This property makes squeezed states potentially useful in low noise and precision measurement. Squeezed states may be generated by, among other things, degenerate parametric amplifiers and four-wave mixers. The reduced noise in one of the amplitude components is most easily observed via a homodyne detector. A number of experimental efforts to generate and detect squeezed states are under way. Here, in describing experimental techniques, the experiments' carried out by Slusher et al. are emphasized. A number of techniques were employed to successfully generate squeezed light. An atomic beam of sodium provided the optical nonlinearity in a cavity-backward four-wave mixer. By employing pairs of Fabry-Perot modes spaced symmetrically about the pump frequency, squeezed light was generated in nondegenerate conditions where Rayleigh scattering of pump light could be avoided. To observe squeezing, a number of nonidealities such as phase jitter and detector inefficiencies also had to be overcome.
Quantum-noise reduction to levels nearly 1 dB below the standard quantum limit are reported for light frequencies near an atomic-sodium resonance. This squeezed light is generated in an optical confocal cavity using four-wave mixing due to the atomic-sodium resonance nonlinearity. Squeezed light exits the cavity through a partially reflecting mirror and is detected outside the cavity with a balanced homodyne detector. Experimental details are described for minimizing losses in the atomic beam and detection apparatus. Frequency jitter due to the pump laser also plays a key role in the limits for noise reduction. A wideband phenomenological model is used to analyse the results. Good agreement between this model and the experimental results is obtained. A full quantum model also agrees with the results and predicts even larger squeezing at higher pump intensities. Prospects for achieving this larger-noise-reduction regime are good.
Squeezed states of light exhibit phase-sensitive quantum noise measurable via optical homodyne detection. They have been predicted to be generated via degenerate four-wave mixing, resonance fluorescence, and nonlinear propagation.1 We report observing phase-sensitive noise via optical homodyning on a cw dye laser beam which has propagated through sodium vapor near the D lines. A p-polarized dye laser beam of ~5-W/cm2 intensity was passed through sodium vapor near its D lines. Homodyne measurements were made on both the s- and the p-polarized components of the transmitted beam using the dual-detector subtraction scheme.2 A spectrum analyzer monitored the noise in a 6–15-MHz band. In the absence of sodium, the noise in this band was vacuum-state quantum noise limited and was insensitive to the relative local-oscillator beam/transmitted laser beam phase θ. In the presence of sodium, the noise was sensitive to θ, with dependence of the form As,p + Bs,p cos2(θ − ϕs,p), where ϕs = 0 for s polarization and ϕp = π/2 for p polarization. For one set of data we measured As = 2 dB, Bs = 3 dB, Ap = 3 dB, and Bp = 2.5 dB above the noise levels in the absence of sodium. The s-poiarization data were collected with the local-oscillator power PLO far in excess of the s component of the transmitted pump power PTP; for p polarization, PLO ~ PTP prevailed. The measurement uncertainty in the spectrum analyzer data is ±0.5 dB. Possible physical mechanisms to explain these results are discussed.