Experimental Progress in Intracavity Generation of Squeezed Light Using Resonant Atomic Nonlinearities
01 January 1987
Quantum noise reduction to levels nearly 1 dB below the standard quantum limit are reported for light frequencies near an atomic Na resonance. This squeezed light is generated in an optical confocal cavity using four-wave-mixing due to the Na atomic 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.