Two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states are an important quantum resource for quantum communication, quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum precision measurement and sensing. It is essential to obtain stable two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states in a low frequency range and compact configurations for practical applications, especially in quantum precision measurement and sensing. Two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states are commonly produced via a subthreshold nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) in a continuous variable system. However, it is a difficult problem that the subthreshold NOPA cavity is phase sensitive manipulated to obtain stable squeezed vacuum states. Previous signal light injecting scheme relies on an injection of a weak light field into the subthreshold NOPA for phase sensitive manipulation. The injected signal light has the same frequency as the generated squeezed vacuum state. Thereby even the weakest injected signal light can introduce large amounts of excessive noise at low frequencies and the squeezing degree of two-mode squeezed vacuum states will be reduced or squeezing cannot be achieved. In this paper, a single sideband frequency shifted light injecting scheme is proposed for phase sensitive manipulation of NOPA. The comparison between the single sideband frequency shifted light injecting scheme and the signal light injecting scheme for realization of phase sensitive manipulation of NOPA is conducted. The effects of the two schemes on the generation of the low-frequency two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum state light field are investigated experimentally . The experimental results show that in the signal light injecting scheme for phase sensitive manipulation, the squeezing degree of the two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum state continuously decreases until it disappears as the power of injected signal light increases. In the process of phase sensitive manipulation of NOPA by using the single sideband frequency shifted light injecting scheme, the squeezing degree of the two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum state does not change with the power of the injected frequency shifted light increasing. Stable phase sensitive manipulation is realized by injecting single sideband frequency shifted light into NOPA. The NOPA is operated in a phase sensitive amplification state for 30 min. Stable low-frequency two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states are obtained. The (4.1 ± 0.1) dB amplitude orthogonal squeezed vacuum states and (4.0 ± 0.2) dB phase orthogonal squeezed vacuum states at a frequency of 200 kHz are generated stably, in a compact NOPA configuration.
Two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states are an important quantum resource for quantum communication, quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum precision measurement and sensing. It is essential to obtain stable two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states in a low frequency range and compact configurations for practical applications, especially in quantum precision measurement and sensing. Two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states are commonly produced via a subthreshold nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) in a continuous variable system. However, it is a difficult problem that the subthreshold NOPA cavity is phase sensitive manipulated to obtain stable squeezed vacuum states. Previous signal light injecting scheme relies on an injection of a weak light field into the subthreshold NOPA for phase sensitive manipulation. The injected signal light has the same frequency as the generated squeezed vacuum state. Thereby even the weakest injected signal light can introduce large amounts of excessive noise at low frequencies and the squeezing degree of two-mode squeezed vacuum states will be reduced or squeezing cannot be achieved. In this paper, a single sideband frequency shifted light injecting scheme is proposed for phase sensitive manipulation of NOPA. The comparison between the single sideband frequency shifted light injecting scheme and the signal light injecting scheme for realization of phase sensitive manipulation of NOPA is conducted. The effects of the two schemes on the generation of the low-frequency two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum state light field are investigated experimentally . The experimental results show that in the signal light injecting scheme for phase sensitive manipulation, the squeezing degree of the two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum state continuously decreases until it disappears as the power of injected signal light increases. In the process of phase sensitive manipulation of NOPA by using the single sideband frequency shifted light injecting scheme, the squeezing degree of the two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum state does not change with the power of the injected frequency shifted light increasing. Stable phase sensitive manipulation is realized by injecting single sideband frequency shifted light into NOPA. The NOPA is operated in a phase sensitive amplification state for 30 min. Stable low-frequency two-mode orthogonal squeezed vacuum states are obtained. The (4.1 ± 0.1) dB amplitude orthogonal squeezed vacuum states and (4.0 ± 0.2) dB phase orthogonal squeezed vacuum states at a frequency of 200 kHz are generated stably, in a compact NOPA configuration.
In high-precision optical measurements, squeezed vacuum states are a promising resource for reducing the shot noise. To utilize a squeezed vacuum, it is important to lock the phase of the local oscillator (LO) to the squeezed light. The coherent control sideband (CCSB) scheme has been established for the precise phase locking, while the previous CCSB scheme was designed for the squeezed vacuum generated with an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). Thus the previous CCSB scheme is not applicable to squeezing by a single-pass optical parametric amplifier (OPA), which is attractive for generating broadband squeezed vacuum states. In this study, we propose a variant of CCSB scheme, which is applicable to the squeezing by single-pass OPA. In this scheme, we inject pump light and frequency-shifted signal light into an OPA crystal in the same way as the previous CCSB scheme. The parametric process in the OPA crystal generates a squeezed vacuum, amplifies the signal light, generates an idler light, and causes the pump depletion reflecting the interference of the amplified signal light and the idler light. Through the lock-in detection of the pump depletion, we can phase-lock the injected signal light to the pump light. Then, after the heterodyne detection of the signal and the idler light, we get the error signal of LO and realize the precise phase locking of LO to the squeezed quadrature. We show the feasibility of the proposed scheme by deriving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the modulated pump signal. We experimentally demonstrate the proposed scheme on pulsed squeezing by a single-pass OPA.
The quantum fluctuations and correlations of the output signal and idler beams from a type-II polarization nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) inside an optical cavity are investigated theoretically, which is driven by the different kinds of quantized fields such as the two-mode thermal field, the phase-conjugate state, and a pair of EPR beams at the signal and idler frequency. Spectral line shapes due to quantum interferences between the input quantum fields and the generated down-converted subharmonic fields of NOPA are studied by scanning the length of the NOPA cavity. The entanglement degree of the EPR entangled beams injected into the NOPA as signal and idler beams can be increased or decreased, which are realized by controlling the relative phase between the pump beam and the injected beams for the NOPA. The results demonstrate coherent phenomena of NOPA in the quantum regime and show phase-sensitive manipulations of quantum entanglement for quantum information processing.
Squeezed vacuum states were generated using a subthreshold optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and a home-made, continuous-wave, single-frequency 532 nm and 1064 nm dual-wavelength laser. The OPO was pumped by the 532 nm output of the laser. The 1064 nm output of the laser was used to generate an auxiliary beam by optical serrodyne sideband modulation and a coherent control field (CCF). When the subthreshold OPO was locked using the auxiliary beam and the squeezing angle controlled using the CCF, 6.1 ± 0.3 dB phase-squeezed vacuum states at audio frequencies from 5 to 100 kHz were stably generated with a compact configuration.
A squeezed vacuum field can be amplified or deamplified when it is injected, as the signal beam, into a phase-sensitive optical parametric amplifier (OPA) inside an optical cavity. The spectral features of the reflected quantized signal field are controlled by the relative phase between the injected squeezed vacuum field and the pump field for the OPA. The experimental results demonstrate coherent phenomena of OPA in the quantum regime and show phase-sensitive manipulations of quantum fluctuations for quantum information processing.
Squeezed states are important sources in quantum physics, which have potential applications in fields such as quantum teleportation, quantum information networks, quantum memory, and quantum metrology and precise measurements. For our interest, the squeezed vacuum will be used in the quantum-enhanced optical atomic magnetometers, filling the vacuum port of the probe beam to improve measurement sensitivity. Based on the sub-threshold optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with PPKTP crystal, the squeezed vacuum at rubidium D1 line of 795 nm is obtained. In our work, we investigate the noise sources in an OPO system. By carefully controlling the classical noise source, the squeezing band extends to the analysis frequency of 2.6 kHz. The flat squeezing trace is 2.8 dB below the shot noise limit. In our work, we focus on the difference between the squeezing results at the analysis frequency of kilohertz regime at two different wavelengths, 1064 nm and 795 nm. The difference mainly comes from the absorption of 795 nm laser and its second harmonic at 397.5 nm in crystal (397.5 nm laser is at the edge of transparent window of PPKTP crystal that has an absorption index much higher than at other wavelength). The absorption induced nonlinear loss and thermal instability greatly affect the squeezing results, which is discussed in our work. Squeezing level at 795 nm is worse than at 1064 nm due to the above-mentioned factors. Noise coupling to the detection system limits the squeezing band. In the audio frequency band, squeezing is easily submerged in roll-up noises and the measured squeezing level is limited. Two factors limit the obtained squeezing:the technical noise induced in the detection and the squeezing degradation by the noise coupling of the control beams. In experiment, we carefully control the classical noise at analytical frequency of kilohertz by means of a vacuum-injected OPO, a counter-propagating cavity locking beam with orthogonal polarization, low noise homodyne detector, stable experimental system and quantum noise locking method for squeezing phase locking. Firstly, to preclude the classical noise from coupling the laser source, we use the vacuum injected OPO. A signal beam helps optimize the parametric gain and is blocked in the squeezing measurement process. In order to maintain the OPO, a counter-propagating beam with orthogonal polarization is used for locking the cavity. Then, a low noise balanced homodyne detector with a common-mode rejection ratio of 45 dB helps improve the audio frequency detection. Finally, the quantum noise locking provides a method to lock the relative phase between the coherent beam and the squeezed vacuum field. With the combination of these technical improvements, a squeezed vacuum of 2.8 dB is obtained at the analysis frequency of 2.6-100 kHz. The obtained squeezing level is mainly limited by the relatively large loss in OPO, which is induced by ultra-violet absorption in PPKTP crystal. The generated squeezed field is used to reduce the polarization noise of probe beam in an optical magnetometer, in order to increase detection sensitivity.
Quantum fluctuations in an optical amplifier are of fundamental as well as technological significance and lead to basic limitations on noise performance. It is well-known that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an injected signal is degraded in the amplification process due to added noise from thermal or (at best) vacuum fluctuations of the internal modes of the amplifier.[1] However, if the internal modes are coupled to a squeezed vacuum, the added noise in amplification can be reduced.[2] With this motivation, we have constructed a nondegenerate parametric amplifier whose idler mode is itself coupled to a squeezed vacuum, which is generated by a second parametric amplifier. Phase-sensitive noise amplification of a vacuum input to the signal mode is observed with the minimum amplified noise level 0.5dB below the usual phase-insensitive amplified noise level for the amplified signal of the same amplifier but with the idler mode coupled to a vacuum state. Prospects for improvement by increasing the squeezing that is coupled into the idler mode of the amplifier beyond the current level of 2dB as well as surprising results from our theoretical analysis which includes losses will be discussed.