Abstract

We have observed an unexpected new phenomena: photo-number squeezing of solitons. Photon-number squeezed light has intensity fluctuations smaller than the classical shot-noise limit, i.e., the standard quantum limit (SQL). Mode-locked lasers usually produce shot-noise limited pulses. If such pulses travel through low- loss optical fibers, they are shot-noise limited when they emerge, due to photon-number conservation. This also holds true for solitons. But, when soliton energies are slightly above the fundamental soliton energy, new frequency components are generated as sidebands; filtering out these sidebands reduces the photon-number noise of the soliton to below the SQL.

© 1995 IEEE