Abstract

We describe the generation of pulsed squeezed light at 1047nm in a lithium triborate (LBO) degenerate optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The starting point in the experiment is a diode-pumped additive-pulse mode-locked Nd:YLF laser that produces a train of pulses 3 ps in duration at a repetition rate of 140 MHz. This fundamental light is frequency doubled in an external ring enhancement cavity to produce the pump beam for the parametric amplifier. It is possible to produce a significant amount of parametric deamplification, and thus a large amount of squeezing, even in the single-pass or travelling-wave amplifier because the pump beam has high peak power for moderate average power. The all-solid-state system we describe is a quiet source ideal for investigating the effects of squeezed light on the efficiency of nonlinear optical processes.

© 1998 IEEE