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Complement 5A: Squeezed states of light: the reduction of quantum fluctuations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

Gilbert Grynberg
Affiliation:
Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris
Alain Aspect
Affiliation:
Institut d'Optique, Palaiseau
Claude Fabre
Affiliation:
Université de Paris VI (Pierre et Marie Curie)
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Summary

We showed in Section 5.2 of the present chapter that according to quantum theory the value of the electric field of an electromagnetic wave could not be predicted to arbitrarily high precision, this being a consequence of the uncertainty relation satisfied by the two quadrature components of the field (Equation 5.32), which imposed a finite limit on the product of their variances. This limit is more than an abstract theoretical limit; it is often the overriding factor determining the resolution of high-precision optical measurements. In such situations measurements by photodetectors on the field exhibit uncontrollable fluctuations of quantum origin known as quantum noise. Fortunately, as we shall show in this complement, it is possible to overcome this by using non-classical states of the radiation field, namely the squeezed states, provided measurements are made of a single one of a pair of conjugate field variables. A field mode prepared in such a state exhibits reduced quantum noise in one of the variables at the expense of increased noise in the other, so that the uncertainty relation involving their variances is still satisfied. The potential of such states for increasing the obtainable precision of optical measurements is self-evident. However, the practical realization of the potential benefits requires delicate experimental techniques that we describe only briefly here.

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Chapter
Information
Introduction to Quantum Optics
From the Semi-classical Approach to Quantized Light
, pp. 387 - 397
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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