Generation of broadband squeezed states pumped by CW mode-locked pulses

Broadband high level squeezing was clearly observed from 100 kHz to 80 MHz using crystals Ba₂NaNb₅O₁₅ of 5 mm length, MgO:LiNbO₃ of 19 mm length and KNbO₃ of 5.8 mm length. Maximum noise reductions detected on a spectrum analyzer were –1.2 dB (–24%), –1.25 dB (–25%), and –1.8 dB (–34%) for the three crystals, respectively. The maximum squeezing is limited mostly by optical index damage of the parametric crystals. A detailed analysis of the beam parameters traced along the pump beam, squeezed vacuum, etc. is given. A detailed discussion on the evaluation of the initial squeezed level is given. A preliminary experiment with compressed laser pulses to avoid the optical damage is also described.     

Generation of amplitude squeezed green light from a high efficiency PPKTP frequency doubler

We report on a high-efficiency 532 nm green light conversion from an external cavity-enhanced second harmonic generation of a home-made 1064 nm single-frequency Nd:YVO₄ laser with a periodically poled KTP crystal. A stable green power of 60 mW with a conversion efficiency of 75% was measured. Meantime, we investigate the quadrature amplitude noise of the green light at the same experimental setup and 0.6 dB green light squeezing was experimentally observed (taking into account the total detection efficiency of 58%, the squeezing should be 1.1 dB). The squeezing as a function of input power was also studied and we found qualitative agreement with theoretical prediction.     

Dynamics of a degenerate parametric oscillator in a squeezed reservoir

Dynamics of a cavity mode which, in addition to interacting to an outside field with squeezed fluctuations, is simultaneously submitted to linear and parametric amplification processes is discussed in the Markovian approximation. The master equation for a density matrix of the cavity field is solved analytically in the Heisenberg picture. Long time asymptotic properties of the cavity mode are studied in the whole range of the evolution parameters and the corresponding decoherence effects are reported. It is also shown that in an appropriate regime of the evolution parameters there exists a unique steady state such that all initial density matrices evolve towards it. This allows engineering cavity states with desired properties.     

All-solid-state cw mode-locked picosecond KTiOAsO4 (KTA) optical parametric oscillator

4 (KTA) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) synchronously pumped by a cw diode-pumped mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ oscillator–amplifier system. The laser system (pumped by 84 W of cw 808-nm diode radiation) generates 7-ps-long pulses at 1.064 μm with a repetition rate of 83.4 MHz and an average power of 29 W. The OPO, synchronously pumped by the 1.064-μm laser pulses, consists of a 15-mm-long KTA crystal (cut for type II noncritical phase-matching) in a folded signal resonant linear resonator. The average powers of the 1.54-μm signal radiation and the 3.47-μm idler radiation are 14.6 W and 6.4 W, respectively. The total OPO output of 21 W corresponds to an internal efficiency of 75%. The experimental investigations include measurements of the OPO output power (and its dependence on the pump power, the transmission of the output coupler, and the resonator length) and of the pulse properties (such as pulse duration and spectral width). The measured results are in good agreement with the predictions of a numerical analysis based on a split-step Fourier method. Received: 4 May 1998     

Design and application of a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator for time-resolved spectroscopy of semiconductor heterostructures

Femtosecond pulses of a collinearly pumped Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) are applied for investigations of the carrier dynamics in ternary and quaternary semiconductor quantum wells. The design and the specifications of the OPO are given in detail. We show that no measurable jitter exists between the pump pulses and the output pulses of the OPO. Therefore, it is possible to use the OPO and its pump laser for two-color experiments with a time resolution limited by the pulse lengths. We present and discuss results of transient four-wave mixing experiments on (InGa) As/InP quantum wells, and find a new kind of polarization-dependent quantum beat phenomenon. In addition, non-degenerate experiments on quantum wells from the quaternary (InGaAl) As material system, using two pulses at different wavelengths (one from the OPO and one from the pump laser), are discussed as a novel experimental technique to study carrier trapping into quantum wells.     

Generation of two-mode quadrature-phase squeezing and intensity-difference squeezing from a cw-NOPO

Received: 17 January 1998     

Effects on squeezing and sub-poissonian of light in fourth harmonic generation up to first-order Hamiltonian interaction

The effects on squeezing and sub-poissonian of light in fourth harmonic generation (FHG) are investigated based on the fully quantum mechanically up to the first order Hamiltonian interaction in gt, where g is the coupling constant between the modes per second and t is the interaction time between the waves during the process in a nonlinear medium. FHG is a process in which an incident laser beam of the fundamental frequency ω interacts with a nonlinear medium to produce the harmonic frequency at 4ω. The coupled Heisenberg equations of motion involving real and imaginary parts of the quadrature operators are established. The occurrence of amplitude squeezing effects in both the quadratures of the radiation field in the fundamental mode is investigated and found to be dependent on the selective phase values of the field amplitude. The photon statistics of the pump mode in this process have also been investigated and found to be sub-poissonian in nature. It is found that there is no possibility to produce squeezed light in the harmonic mode up to first-order interaction in gt. Further, we have found the case up to second-order Hamiltonian interaction in gt that the normal squeezing in the harmonic mode is directly depends upon the fourth-order squeezing of the initial pump field. This gives a method of converting higher-order (fourth-order) squeezing into normal squeezing in the harmonic mode and vice versa.     

Squeezing by second-harmonic generation in a monolithic resonator

We have measured the intensity fluctuations of the second-harmonic mode generated in a MgO:LiNbO₃ external monolithic cavity pumped by a Nd:YAG laser. The cavity has mirror coatings for both the fundamental and the second-harmonic mode. We scan the cavity using the electro-optic effect of the crystal and observe that the second-harmonic beam of 2 mW exhibits a quantum noise reduction of 40(±5)%. In addition, we report on the active frequency stabilization of the monolithic device used in our squeezing experiments. Several fast tuning parameters such as the electro-optic effect, the photo-elastic effect, and the laser frequency have been investigated. With these tuning parameters the monolithic resonator can be locked on double-resonance at the phase-matching temperature, which is a prerequisit for observing squeezing in a cw-regime.     

Interaction of a two-level atom with squeezed light

We consider a degenerate parametric oscillator whose cavity contains a two-level atom. Applying the Heisenberg and quantum Langevin equations, we calculate in the bad-cavity limit the mean photon number, the quadrature variance, and the power spectrum for the cavity mode in general and for the signal light and fluorescent light in particular. We also obtain the normalized second-order correlation function for the fluorescent light. We find that the presence of the two-level atom leads to a decrease in the degree of squeezing of the signal light. It so turns out that the fluorescent light is in a squeezed state and the power spectrum consists of a single peak only.     

Generation of strongly squeezed states for a cavity field with a single atom

We propose a scheme to realize strong squeezing for a cavity field with a single three-level atom. In the scheme the atom is sent through the cavity initially filled with a coherent field. The atom dispersively interacts with the cavity field, which is displaced by a microwave resource during the interaction. Then, a selective measurement on the atom collapses the field to a superposition of an even coherent state with a vacuum state, which exhibits strong squeezing. The scheme can also be generalized to the two-mode case.     

Nonlinear mode coupling in doubly resonant frequency doublers

The concept of a doubly resonant frequency doubler can be used for a variety of experiments concerning both classical phenomena like efficient frequency doubling at low power levels and quantum effects like squeezed states of light or Quantum Non Demolition (QND) measurements. In many of these experiments the strength of the nonlinear coupling of fundamental and second-harmonic modes is of crucial importance. First we treat the general theory for the calculation of the coupling parameter, which depends not only on properties of the nonlinear material but also on resonator geometry and some optical phases. On this basis we discuss in detail the situation for two different monolithic resonator geometries, namely a linear (standing-wave) and a ring (travelling-wave) cavity. Finally we compare theoretical predictions for these resonators to the experimentally achieved results.     

Widely tunable optical parametric oscillator driven by a pulsed diode-pumped nonlinear-mirror mode-locked Nd:YAG laser

We report on the development of a pulsed diode end-pumped Nd:YAG laser mode-locked by a nonlinear mirror and stabilized by an acousto-optical modulator. With the introduction of appropriate intracavity loss, the laser is able to generate 22.8 ps pulses with the energy of 4.5 μJ. After amplification and frequency doubling stages, the second harmonic radiation is used to non-collinearly synchronously pump a β-barium borate optical parametric oscillator in a walk-off compensated scheme. The system demonstrates a wide-tuning range from 635 nm to 2.55 μm for the signal output, with maximum average conversion efficiency as high as 42%.     

Quantum correlated twin beams

We discuss recent progress in the study of the non-classical properties of light beams generated by non-degenerate parametric splitting in ⁽²⁾ nonlinear birefringent crystals, with special emphasis on their quantum correlation (twin beams). We describe experimental results using successively pure parametric fluorescence, parametric amplification of a weak signal beam pumped by a pulsed laser, and parametric oscillation in a cavity pumped by a cw laser. In this review, we compare the respective advantages and drawbacks of the different approaches.     

Parametric conversion and maximally entangled photon pair via collective excitations in a cycle atomic ensemble

We study the propagation of two quantized optical fields via considering the collective effects of photonic emissions and excitations of a three-level cyclic-type system (such as atomic ensemble with symmetry broken, or the chiral molecular gases, or manual “atomic” array with symmetry broken), where the quantum transitions is driven by two quantized fields and a classical one. The results show that the parametric conversion and maximally entangled photon pair generation can be achieved by means of the collective excitation of the two upper energy levels induced by the classic optical field. This investigation may be used for the generated coherent short-wavelength quantum radiation and quantum information processing.     

Synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillators

Recent work on the development of high-repetition-rate, synchronously pumped picosecond and femtosecond Optical Parametric Oscillators (OPOs) is reviewed. With KTP, BBO or LBO crystals and solid-state pumps such as cw mode-locked Ti:Sapphire, Nd:YAG or Nd:YLF lasers, the singly resonant OPOs or their nonlinear optical accessories yield pulses as short as 40 fs, average powers up to hundreds of milliwatts, and tunability from 200 nm to > 10 µm.     

Time and frequency features of noise for a pulsed squeezed state field generated via degenerate four wave mixing

The time and frequency features of the fluctuations are studied for a pulsed squeezed state field generated by train of pulses produced by a mode-locked laser via degenerated four wave mixing. We propose an improved balanced homodyne detection scheme, which can be used to measure simultaneously the time variation and the frequency spectrum of the noise of in one quadrature component of the pulsed squeezed state field. The explicit expressions for the intensity and the noise as functions of time and frequency are derived. The features of the intensity and noise spectra are discussed. It is shown that the variation of noise with time exhibits a pulse train with reduced noise and the frequency spectrum of the noise displays some very interesting properties.     

Laser cooling force in noisy quadrature of squeezed light

The laser cooling of atoms is a result of the combined effect of Doppler shift, light shift and polarization gradient. These are the phenomena which generally introduce frequency shift and uncertainty. However, they combine gainfully in realizing laser cooling and trapping of the atoms. In this paper we discuss the laser cooling of atoms in the presence of the squeezed light with the decay of atomic dipole moment into noisy quadrature. We show that the higher decay rate of the atomic dipole moment into the noisy quadrature, which leads to decrease in the signal to noise ratio, may contribute in realizing larger cooling force vis-à-vis with coherent laser light.     

Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of the influence of resonator-length detuning on the output power,pulse duration and spectral width of a cw mode-locked picosecond optical parametric oscillator

We report on a cw mode-locked non-critically phase matched KTP optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by a picosecond Ti:Sapphire laser. High average signal output power of up to 950 mW over a large tuning range has been achieved. For this OPO the influence of resonator-length detuning on the output power, pulse duration and spectral bandwidth has been investigated. The measured data are in good agreement with the results of a numerical simulation using a split-step Fourier method which considers the group-velocity mismatch, the group-velocity dispersion and the self-phase modulation. The numerical simulation also describes the measured strong pump depletion and its influence on the OPO output and efficiency.     

Second-harmonic generated by self-squeezed light in isotropic medium. The role of light intensity-dependent effects and molecular-statistical structure

An isotropic medium with electrically removed centre of symmetry in which a fundamental wave at frequency generates the second harmonic at 2 is considered. The two waves give rise to self-acting effects modifying the refractive indices at and/or 2 (selfinduced ellipse rotation, optical Kerr effect). For this physical situation, an effective interaction Hamiltonian is introduced involving nonlinear coupling parameters, discussed versus the dc electric field and temperature as well as the density, concentration and molecular structure of the medium. The solutions of the respective quantum equations for the field operators at and 2 permit, in particular, the calculation of the variances for a novel process of second-harmonic generation by light, self-squeezed in an isotropic medium. It is shown that squeezing in the out-of-phase component of the second harmonic beam follows, with some delay, after self-squeezing in the in-phase component of the fundamental beam.Sponsored by the Polish Academy of Sciences, Project CPBP 01.12     

Multimode squeezed states produced by a confocal parametric oscillator

We investigate the spatial behaviour of the quantum-noise-reduction spectrum of the vacuum state emitted by a degenerate optical parametric oscillator below threshold. In view of possible experimental implementations, we consider a mode-degenerate resonator and two matching lenses and show that, for the realistic case of a finite-width pump, significant level of squeezing can be observed in a very small region of the beam. Received 25 September 2002 Published online 11 February 2003