No Arabic abstract
We have measured -3.5 dB (-8.1 dB corrected for losses) relative intensity squeezing between the probe and conjugate beams generated by stimulated, nondegenerate four-wave mixing in hot rubidium vapor. Unlike early observations of squeezing in atomic vapors based on saturation of a two-level system, our scheme uses a resonant nonlinearity based on ground-state coherences in a three-level system. Since this scheme produces narrowband, squeezed light near an atomic resonance it is of interest for experiments involving cold atoms or atomic ensembles.
We study quantum intensity correlations produced using four-wave mixing in a room-temperature rubidium vapor cell. An extensive study of the effect of the various parameters allows us to observe very large amounts of non classical correlations.
We propose and demonstrate a polarization-based truncated SU(1,1) interferometer that outputs the desired optical joint-quadrature of a two-mode squeezed vacuum field and allows its measurements using a single balanced homodyne detector. Using such setup we demonstrated up to $approx$2 dB of quantum noise suppression below the shot-noise limit in intensity-difference and phase-sum joint quadratures, and confirmed entanglement between the two quantum fields. Our proposed technique results in a better balance between the two ports of the detector and, consequently, in better common noise suppression for differential measurements. As a result, we were able to observe flat joint-quadrature squeezing and entanglement at wide range of detection frequencies: from several MHz (limited by the photodiode gain bandwidth) down to a few hundred Hz (limited by electronic noises).
We have studied relative-intensity fluctuations for a variable set of orthogonal elliptic polarization components of a linearly polarized laser beam traversing a resonant $^{87}$Rb vapor cell. Significant polarization squeezing at the threshold level (-3dB) required for the implementation of several continuous variables quantum protocols was observed. The extreme simplicity of the setup, based on standard polarization components, makes it particularly convenient for quantum information applications.
We report the transfer of phase structure, and in particular of orbital angular momentum, from near-infrared pump light to blue light generated in a four-wave-mixing process in 85Rb vapour. The intensity and phase profile of the two pump lasers at 780nm and 776nm, shaped by a spatial light modulator, influences the phase and intensity profile of light at 420nm which is generated in a subsequent coherent cascade. In particular we oberve that the phase profile associated with orbital angular momentum is transferred entirely from the pump light to the blue. Pumping with more complicated light profiles results in the excitation of spatial modes in the blue that depend strongly on phase-matching, thus demonstrating the parametric nature of the mode transfer. These results have implications on the inscription and storage of phase-information in atomic gases.
We suggest a scheme to manipulate paraxial diffraction by utilizing the dependency of a four-wave mixing process on the relative angle between the light fields. A microscopic model for four-wave mixing in a Lambda-type level structure is introduced and compared to recent experimental data. We show that images with feature size as low as 10 micrometers can propagate with very little or even negative diffraction. The mechanism is completely different from that conserving the shape of spatial solitons in nonlinear media, as here diffraction is suppressed for arbitrary spatial profiles. At the same time, the gain inherent to the nonlinear process prevents loss and allows for operating at high optical depths. Our scheme does not rely on atomic motion and is thus applicable to both gaseous and solid media.